Related
by skycloud86
Summary: AU/OC crossover taking place on 24's Day Three and about two months after the end of Tru Calling. Someone asks for help, but they aren't asking Tru.
1. Not The End

_**A/N – This is going to be quite the AU story, and some things have to be explained. Nina and Alex Myers are the cousins of the main character in Tru Calling, Tru Davies (her mother Elise is their father's sister). The story is set on Day Three (I know, I'm obsessed) and takes place a few months after the final episode of Tru Calling. In other fanfictions of mine, Eliza Dushku, who plays Tru Davies, is actually the "actress" that "plays" Sarah Henderson. For those who don't know who Alex Myers is, he's my OC and younger brother of Nina. **_

**2.59am, CTU Los Angeles**

She looked so peaceful, even with her eyes wide open staring at nothing. Alex noticed the blood that had snaked its way down her arm, deep crimson contrasting with porcelain white. The scar that the torture device had carved into her neck was only just held together by a couple of flimsy stitches. Jack was crouched down near her feet, deep in thought. He looked sad, almost regretful, and Alex could tell that his decision to kill Nina had not been taken lightly.

"Jack, you OK?," Alex spoke quietly as moved out of the shadow and into the weak glare of the ancient light bulbs that hung in the room. The room where Teri had lost her life, where Nina had planned her getaway, and now the room where Nina died and where the game she had played with Jack had come to an end. Jack looked up at Alex with his weary blue eyes.

"Not exactly," Jack replied, as he stood up. He took one last look at Nina, before heading for the door. Stopping a couple of steps away but not turning around, he spoke to Alex.

"You know that it had to end like this, right?," Jack spoke. He knew that Nina was Alex's sister, and that Alex did love her in some way, even if all he showed to everyone else was contempt for her and her actions.

"Yeah, Jack," Alex replied, and as Jack left the room, he walked up to Nina's body. Gently closing her eyes, he pressed two fingers against his lips and touched her cheek with them. As he removed his fingers, he was looking around for something to cover her body until she could be moved to the morgue. Suddenly, he felt himself being drawn back to her face. It happened too quickly for him to really react, but her head moved towards him, and her eyes opened suddenly.

"Help me," Nina asked him, and he felt himself being almost dragged somewhere, with only images of places and people he did and didn't know as clues to what was going on.


	2. Morning Before

**7.02am, Alex's house, Los Angeles**

Alex sat up quickly, before realising that the events of the past day or so may have been a dream. He was slightly sceptical of the theory, as the dream had been far more complex and realistic than any dream he had had before. That was, until the radio announced that it was a sunny Thursday morning, and Alex had been expecting it to be Friday. Sitting at the end of his bed, he decided not to dwell on it. After all, realistic or not, he was aware of just how powerful the subconscious was, and the plot of the dream was not exactly impossible when it came to working at CTU.

**10.15am (Boston time), Tru's apartment**

Not having to go into work for hours gave Tru the chance to have a lie-in. However, she woke up and knew exactly what had happened as soon as she picked up the newspaper from the doormat. It had been months since the last rewind, and she had hoped that it had finally left her alone. Wondering if Jack Harper was involved, she knew that she had to be quick.

**7.30am (Los Angeles time), a road in Los Angeles**

Alex was slowly making his way through the morning traffic, and trying hard to get the image of his dead sister out of his mind. Wondering why the dream had seemed so vivid, he suddenly had a second theory. Grabbing his phone, he dialled a number that he had only used a couple of times before, to a side of the family he had little contact with.

"Tru, it's Alex," he spoke as she answered. He remembered a few years ago, when he had been in Boston, a story that Harrison had drunkenly told him about Tru and how she relived days. He had assumed that Harrison just had an overactive imagination, but not any more.

"Alex, what's up? I wasn't expecting to hear from you," Tru responded. She had seen her cousin only a few times in the past few years, once in Boston and once in Los Angeles. The visit to California had happened just a couple of weeks after Nina's arrest, and both Tru and Alex had been shocked by the revelations about Nina.

"Remember when I came to Boston a few years ago? Well, Harrison told me a story about you, that you relive days. I thought it was just the alcohol talking, but I now have first hand evidence that it wasn't," Alex replied, certain that he was reliving a day. There had been many similarities between his journey that morning and the journey he had had before the day rewound.

"It's you? Who died, Alex?," Tru asked, confused and sort of anxious. This was the first time she had rewound without her or Jack Harper being directly involved.

"Nina died, Tru. She was involved in some drug deal, Jack Bauer brought her back to CTU, she tried to escape and he shot her. I was next to her body when she asked me to help her," Alex informed her, confused as to what he was supposed to do. The events leading to Nina's death were numerous and the whole day had been so convoluted that he was sure that he wasn't going to be able to save her.

"Alex, you need to find a way to stop her dying. I mean, I don't have any real experience of federal agencies, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it. I'll keep my cell on, so call if you need help," Tru responded, not exactly sure how she could help in any way. It wasn't as if she had some sort of manual to help her, and she knew that even the tiniest mistake could set her up for failure. She wondered why Nina had asked for help – she wasn't exactly an innocent, and her life sounded truly awful, even if it was mostly due to her own actions. Not quite sure what to make of her cousin's death at the hands of her former lover, she decided not to dwell on it until Alex called her again.

**7.45am, CTU Los Angeles**

Jack Bauer, one of the vast majority who were blissfully unaware that a tiny minority of three were reliving the day, was busy. As Head of Field Operations, he was one of the most important agents at CTU, and the workload showed it. Although he was not exactly fond of the place, he had many reasons for sticking with the agency. Some of those were loyalty to country, loyalty to friends, and the need for closure in regards to Nina Myers. He knew that working at CTU would mean that he would know far more about her whereabouts than if he were a civilian. He assumed that she was still in North Africa, although she had in reality escaped to Europe some years before. Looking down at the bullpen, he noticed Alex walking to his station. Alex had become one of his most trusted and closest friends, and although he did have doubts about how sincere Alex's loyalty was, he didn't think that Alex was a terrorist or sleeper agent lurking in the shadows, waiting to be activated. The doubts were simply because of Alex's relation to Nina, and that he seemed to still have some love for her.

As Alex sat down, he looked over at some of the people who had been heavily involved in the events of the day before – Kim, who had almost been killed by Nina minutes before Nina herself died. Gael, the false mole who had been tortured rather than give out information on the sting operation. Tony, who almost died from a gunshot wound after being shot in the neck. He was unsure when he was supposed to disrupt fate and save Nina. He knew that she would be in Mexico that night, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do – going to Jack and telling him the story would not help at all, and even Jack with his secret heroin addiction would be seen as more sane. Realising that he knew far more than anyone else in the building, he decided that he would have to be careful with what he said and what he did. Although there was no possibility of anyone knowing that it was a replay day, he knew that any strange actions would see him sent home, and being sent home would mean death for Nina.

**11.00am (Boston time), cafe in Boston**

Tru sighed as Jack Harper sat down at the table. She disliked the man immensely, but realised that she had to tell him the truth about the rewind day.

"You calling me sort of helps me out, Tru. Helps me out even more if you give me some information on who you're trying to save," Jack spoke. He had a job as her opposite – where she attempted to restore life, he attempted to maintain death.

"It's not me who's trying to save someone, Jack. It's my cousin in Los Angeles, trying to save his sister," Tru replied.

"LA? Even if I travelled there, still plenty of time to stop him, Tru," Jack replied with a smirk, and started to stand up. Tru hadn't given him much to go on, but he knew that her father was a resourceful man, and that he could track down her cousin within a matter of hours.

"It happened inside a federal building, Jack. My cousin is a federal agent, and I doubt even you could get into CTU. His sister is a terrorist," Tru spoke, struggling to call her cousin a terrorist. She had known Nina from a young age, and had seen no strange behaviour. Nina had been an intelligent student, and could have had a bright future. Jack sat back down, interested.

"A fed is trying to save a terrorist? Even if she is his sister, why would he save someone like that?," Jack asked. He had always been affected when the victim had been murdered or died in an accident, but this victim seemed to be nothing more than a mass murderer, someone who was not exactly a pillar of society.

"I know you don't really get the concept, Jack, but she asked him for help, and he wants to save her, no matter what she has done," Tru replied, standing up. She knew that Jack was necessary, in order to balance the universe, but she was irritated by him, and although she tried not to waste energy by hating him, she found it difficult.

**8.10am (Los Angeles time), CTU Los Angeles**

Alex had been quietly looking through the intelligence on Michael Amador and Marcus Alvers, and he felt like a spy creeping through places where he shouldn't be. Both of the men had connections to Britain and to each other, but Alex found no connection either to CTU or to Nina. He heard someone pass behind him, and almost froze as the person said his name. Turning around, he saw that it was Chase Edmunds, Jack's new partner, and also Kim's as Alex had found out the day before.

"Alex, you seen Tony this morning? I'm sure he said he was coming early today," Chase spoke, and Alex was glad that his attention seemed to be anywhere but the computer screen.

"No, I haven't, sorry," Alex replied, hoping that Chase would soon leave. Nodding, Chase did indeed leave, heading for Jack's office. Alex hoped that the visit wouldn't involve a discussion about why he was looking at intelligence on Michael Amador.

Moving back around to his computer, Alex decided to look up information on Ramon Salazar. Finding some intelligence, he clicked on it, only for a warning to pop up telling him that his security clearance was too low for him to be able to access the information. Worried, Alex realised that someone higher up would be informed of his attempt to view the intel, and he knew that he could be arrested for it, which would leave Nina dead and him in jail. Looking up at Jack's office, he saw Jack and Chase deep in conversation. Although Jack was only a couple of levels higher than Alex, he being the Head of Field Ops compared to Alex being third in command behind Tony and Michelle with Jack being at the same level as Tony, when it came to security clearance, Alex was worried that Jack would get the message about his attempt, and if Jack didn't, Tony certainly would.

**8.25am, CTU Los Angeles**

Tony was sitting down at his desk, rubbing one eye as he started up his computer. Seeing the warning message flash on his screen, Tony groaned. He hated dealing with possible security risks this early in the morning, and Michelle noticed his exasperation, which became more audible as Tony read the agent's name.

"What is it Tony?," Michelle asked, as she approached his desk to look at the screen. As soon as she saw Alex's name, she realised just how Tony was taking it – badly.

"It's Alex, Michelle. I want to hear his side of the story, and I just hope he tells me the truth. I couldn't take it if he turned out to be like her," Tony replied, before reaching for his phone. Calling Alex's extension, he looked down at his friend, and hoped that there was a good, legitimate reason as to why Alex was looking up information on Salazar.

As Alex put the phone down, he felt like he wanted to flee CTU and go to Mexico and try and save Nina there. Knowing that to be a dim possibility, he sighed as he stood up. He had been careful with his words when talking to Tony, so that noone suspected that anything was wrong. Climbing the stairs to Tony's office, he realised that he had no explanation, or at least no believable explanation, for why he was researching Ramon Salazar. Knocking on the door, he saw Michelle's eyes staring at him, hungry for answers. She knew more than most how Nina's betrayal had hurt Tony and even though Tony and Alex's relationship was very different, it was strong and had stood the test of time and ordeals. Entering the room, he stood near Tony's desk until Tony gestured to him to sit.

"What's your interest in Ramon Salazar, Michael Amador and Marcus Alvers, Alex?," Tony enquired, eager to find out the truth. He looked at Alex, looking for any signs that he was lying. Knowing that Nina had been a brilliant liar, he also knew that if Alex was as good a liar as Nina, that he would be able to spin a bullshit but believable story in seconds.

"I just heard of those names a few times recently, Tony. I wasn't looking for anything specific, I was just curious. Besides, we all know about Salazar anyway, right? I didn't think there was much that needed to be kept to higher clearance levels," Alex replied. Tony was silent for a moment, and Alex could tell that he was thinking hard.

"I'll believe that for now, Alex, but if this happens again, I won't be so quick," Tony replied. Although he wasn't fully convinced by Alex's answer, it did sound feasible, and Salazar had been mentioned quite a few times around CTU over the past few months. He had hardly heard of the other two, but reasoned that as they were so low-key, that no group would bother risking a mole for intelligence on them. Noticing that Jack was looking at him and Alex from his office, he knew that he would have to tell Jack about Alex's attempted security breach. As Alex left the office, he saw Jack stand up.

Sitting back at his desk, Alex looked up at Tony's office, and was not surprised to see Jack there. He hoped that Jack would not become suspicious of him.

"He did what?," Jack spoke, turning to look at Alex, who had returned to his work. He had been dreading the day that Alex would be caught doing something he shouldn't, but was also relieved that it was nothing major.

"I don't think he knows about the sting operation, Jack, and I don't think he's a mole, but we have to keep an eye on him for now," Tony replied. He noticed that although Jack seemed a little angry, he wasn't about to have Alex arrested or do something drastic.

"That's fine with me. Let's just hope you're right, Tony," Jack said, as he looked down at Alex.


	3. Alarm Bells

**9.00am, CTU Los Angeles**

Although he was trying hard not to think too much about Nina, knowing that he could do little at such an early point in the day, he decided to make a list of the main events of what had happened the day before. He knew that many people were injured or were killed, and decided that as he had a chance to save Nina, he should try and prevent those injuries and deaths. Recalling that the first incident that really stood out happened just after 1pm, he mentally traced his, and CTU's, day through the hours. Deciding that he could take some action right there, he picked up his phone and hoped noone would hear the conversation he was about to have.

**12.05pm (Boston time), Logan International Airport**

Tru was waiting for a flight to Los Angeles. She had been lucky to find one that was about to take off, and was hoping that Jack Harper was not already on his way to California. The flight itself would take just over five hours, and Tru had been told very little about the actual schedule of the day, although from what she knew, it seemed as if Nina's murder took place late at night. Working out the time difference, she calculated that she would arrive in Los Angeles at 2.30pm local time.

**9.15am (LA time), CTU Los Angeles**

Chloe O'Brian knocked on Tony's door, a look of concern on her face. As he gestured for her to enter, she nervously wrung her hands as if she had done something wrong.

"Tony, I've had a phone call from a Mr Singer. He says that he and his wife received a phone call from inside CTU about 15 minutes ago, accusing their son of being a drug mule," Chloe spoke, before handing him a CD encased in a clear orange case, which told him that the CD had an audio file on. Slipping the CD into his computer, he began to play the file. Instantly recognising Alex's voice, he stopped the audio after a few minutes.

"Has it been traced to an agent, Chloe?," Tony asked, even though he knew already. He sighed as she nodded.

"It was Alex," she spoke. She didn't know much about Alex, but she had always seen him as a competent agent. Now this rather strange conversation made him look rather suspicious.

"Yeah. Look, don't tell Alex anything about this, just get back to work and I'll sort it out," Tony told her, taking a quick glance down at Alex as he spoke. Nodding, Chloe turned and moved towards the door. As soon as the door closed, Tony picked up his phone.

"Jack? You better come here, I think we've got a problem."

**9.30am, CTU Los Angeles**

For the past few minutes, Kim had been looking at Alex with curiosity. It seemed as if something was going on that only him, her father and Tony, but she couldn't quite work it out. She had worked at CTU for a few years now, and had settled in quite well. Working with her father and people he trusted made her feel safe, and the work was both rewarding and at times interesting. It had taken her a few months before she could walk past the room in which her mother died, but about a year after starting her job, she had managed to do it, and even visited the room itself. Once, on the anniversary of her mother's death, she and her dad had lit a candle in the mostly disused room. Adam Kaufman, who was working across from her, noticed her gazing at Alex, and whispered her name to get her attention.

"What is it, Adam?," Kim asked, slowly moving around to look at the analyst.

"Why do you keep staring at Alex?," Adam asked. He knew little about Alex Myers, and even less about the events that Alex and Kim had been involved in.

"No reason, I'm not even really looking at him," Kim replied, and this seemed to be enough for Adam. Although Kim liked Alex, the last thing she wanted was for rumours to start of her being attracted to him, especially if her father were to find out. There were many gossips working at CTU, and if people thought she was going out with the brother of her mother's killer, there was no way her father would let her continue working at CTU, and Alex would probably have no choice but to transfer elsewhere.

**12.35pm (Boston time) American Airways flight LAX2424**

Tru relaxed in her seat as the plane began it's flight across the continent. Having no contact with Alex for almost a quarter of the day worried her, but she reasoned that he was an intelligent person and would probably be able to look after himself. She looked over at the row of chairs to her left, and groaned audibly as she saw Jack Harper, fast asleep and snoring. Deciding not to wake him up and have a conversation, she ignored him and hoped the nap would last for the entire flight.

**9.50am (LA time) CTU Los Angeles**

Jack was sat at his desk, researching any connection between Alex and any known terrorist groups or drug cartels. He was certain that Alex was innocent of anything more than curiosity, but the strange phone call to some LA family had set off alarms bells, and now Jack was growing ever more suspicious. He was even considering sending Kim home, even though he knew that Alex wouldn't harm her, just in case. Looking down at the bullpen, the first thing he noticed was that Alex was not at his workstation. Although it was a possibility that he had just gone to the toilet or to the break room to get a drink, Jack's mind told him to check out both rooms. Grabbing his gun and hoping that he wouldn't even need to take it out of it's holster, he moved quietly but quickly down to the break room. Finding it empty, he went to the nearest men's toilets, but also found it empty. Sighing to himself, he began to search.

In a nearby corridor, Alex was trying to get in touch with Tru. Leaving her a message asking her to call him as soon as she could, he decided to try and call Harrison.

"Hey Harrison, it's Alex," he said as his cousin answered. He hoped that Tru had given Harrison some idea of where she was.

"Hey, Alex, what's up? Tru called me about 40 minutes ago, said she was about to catch a flight to LA. I'm assuming you know?," Harrison replied, although this was news to Alex.

"No, I didn't, but I know why she's coming here. Do you remember the last time I came to Boston, and you told me all about how Tru relives days?," Alex enquired.

"I remember the visit, but not telling you about Tru," Harrison replied, trying to remember when he had told Alex.

"You were drunk at the time," Alex told him.

"That would be why I can't remember. What's that got to do with her going to LA?," Harrison asked, confused. Tru had never needed to go out of Boston, never mind to the other side of the country, when she relived days before.

"I'm sort of experiencing it first hand, Harrison, which is why she's coming here," Alex told him, before becoming aware of nearby footsteps growing louder.

"Really? Who's the lucky victim?," Harrison asked, confusion replaced by curiosity.

"Nina is," Alex told him, and he expected Harrison to ask why.

"Nina? As in, terrorist cousin?," Harrison spoke.

"Yeah, her. Er, Harrison, I'm going to have to go now," Alex replied, before ending the call. Jack was stood a few metres away from him, gun out and pointed right at him.

"Drop the phone and turn around, Alex," Jack growled, anger rushing through him as he stared at who he thought was a friend. Complying, Alex grew nervous. He knew that he had pushed his luck, and now it was looking like he was going to be in jail and unable to save Nina.

"I can explain, Jack. I'm not what you're suspecting me of being!," Alex pleaded, as Jack roughly handcuffed his hands behind his back.

"I'm sure you're not, Alex," Jack replied sarcastically, before grabbing Alex's arm and marching him towards the holding rooms. Alex was glad that they didn't need to go anywhere near the bullpen, because the last thing he wanted was for people to think he was actually a terrorist or mole.

Entering Holding Room 1, Jack forced Alex down onto one of the chairs and as he left the room, he couldn't bring himself to look at Alex. He was still furious and was determined to find out what was going on. Holding Alex's cell phone in his hand, he went straight to Chloe.

"Chloe, I need you to get the records for this phone. I want to know contacts, phone calls, messages, anything that could be useful," Jack whispered to her as he passed her the phone. Chloe looked at the phone with curiosity.

"Jack, whose phone is this?," Chloe asked, although she wasn't stupid. She knew that Alex had now been gone for too long to have just gone to the toilet, and she had noticed the suspicion surrounding Alex all morning.

"Look, I just need the information. Keep it quiet, and make sure only me, you and Tony know what you're doing," Jack told her. Nodding, Chloe got to work as Jack left to return to the holding room. On his way there, he looked up at Tony and, with his eyes, gestured for him to follow him.

Entering the holding room once more, Jack waited for Tony to go into the surveillance room before he began. Standing at the other side of the table from Alex, he stared at him for a few minutes. Alex appeared nervous, and Jack could tell that he was hiding something.

"You're going to tell me exactly what you are up to," Jack spoke. Alex, who had been staring at the opposite wall since Jack had left the room, moved his head to look at Jack.

"I could, but you wouldn't believe me," Alex replied, at which Jack scoffed.

"Go on then, tell me what I won't believe, and I'll decide for myself," Jack replied, his eyes staring straight at Alex.

"Fine. I'm living this day all over again, Jack. I know what's going to happen today and tonight, Jack," Alex replied. Jack stared at him incredulously, before slamming his palms down onto the table.

"Stop bullshitting me, Alex!," Jack yelled, and he was about to leave the room, when Alex decided to give him some proof.

"You want Claudia Hernandez to live, right? Because last night she died," Alex said, catching Jack's attention immediately. Sitting down across from Alex, Jack looked at him.

"Are you working for the Salazars?," Jack asked, but Alex could only laugh at the question.

"There's more chance of Gael working for them than me," Alex said, referring to Gael's job as a fake mole for the Salazar brothers. Jack's eyes widened, and he realised that Alex obviously knew a lot more than he was supposed to. He decided to test the theory.

"OK, so say I believe you. Why did you call Mr and Mrs Singer?," Jack said, his voice now calmer and quieter.

"Because their son will be falsely thought of as being infected with the Cordilla virus, thus allowing you to escape with Ramon Salazar to Mexico. Las Nieves, to be precise," Alex replied, who was beginning to feel almost like a cheesy late night television psychic.

"How do you know you are reliving the day? How is that even possible?," Jack asked. His suspicions were beginning to fade, and his curiosity was growing.

"I just do. Look, my cousin Tru Davies is flying in from Boston. She relives days a lot, and even she doesn't know how. I'm not lying to you, Jack. In fact, I could tell you right now exactly what happened last night, up to around 3am in the morning," Alex spoke, careful not to mention that Nina's death was the reason why he was reliving the day, although he knew that he had to tell Jack about the killing. He knew that Jack would ask about the time and it's significance, but he knew that he didn't need to give too much away.

"3am? What's so special about 3am?," Jack enquired.

"You shoot Nina dead at around that time," Alex replied, and Jack's face went ghostly white. Standing up, he looked at the mirror which Tony stood behind, and could guess just how Tony was feeling.

"Nina? She's involved?," Jack asked, and Alex nodded.

"She'll try and bid for the Cordilla virus tonight. Your deal becomes an auction, a fixed auction designed to help Amador scam whoever wins. She wins, but Amador manages to escape with the virus, as the one she has is going to be a bomb that doesn't kill her. You take her into custody, and a whole drama plays out until you find her, in the room where Teri died, pointing a gun at Kim, who also has a gun but is too scared to shoot," Alex informed Jack and Tony, who had come into the room with them. Jack said nothing, but instead stood up and walked behind Alex. Taking the handcuffs off of him and throwing them onto the table, he returned to his seat.

"Are you going to be able to change the events of the day?," Jack asked. Alex simply nodded.

**10.10am, CTU Los Angeles**

Jack made his way towards his daughter, and stood next to her, his hands shaking. He was still trying to take in what Alex had told him, and he wanted to make sure that Claudia was OK, that Nina didn't have a chance to get anywhere near his daughter, that Amador couldn't use the deal to make a quick and greedy fortune.

"Kim, I want you to go home at the normal time tonight, even if something happens," Jack asked her quietly, trying not to let anyone else hear the conversation. Kim looked at him with confusion.

"Dad, what's going on?," Kim asked him. She was worried that something was already happening, just like the time some years before, when a nuke had threatened the city. That time, she had managed to get out of LA thanks to Alex, but this time she had no idea what the threat, if there was any, was.

"Look, I need you to trust me. Something is going to happen tonight, and I need you to stay away from CTU. You can go anywhere in the city, but just keep away from this building, please," Jack asked her, his voice anxious and pleading. Kim looked at him, knew that he was serious, and sighed.

"OK, Dad, but I don't want Tony complaining about this," Kim asked.

"Believe me, Kim, he won't mind at all," Jack replied. He watched as Alex returned to his workstation. He had asked Alex to give him a list of the main events of the day that he supposedly reliving, and Jack had been astonished at how the events had played out. Knowing that the information could potentially save so many lives, he thought of one life in particular. He knew that in the original day that Alex lived, he shot Nina dead, This meant the end of Nina, and it also meant that Jack could properly move on from the past. Even so, he didn't feel as if he could truly kill Nina. He had had so many chances over the years, that he was sure that he could never kill her. Deciding not to dwell on the event until later in the day, he began to plan a revised train of events that would be drastically different from the original day, and as he did, he felt thankful for the chance.


	4. Second Draft

**11.10am, CTU Los Angeles**

Jack was in his office, having called a meeting with Tony and Gael, the other two people involved in their secret sting operation. It had taken them a while to convince Gael of the reliving a day theory, and the fact that Gael would have been been caught and tortured for his part in the mission helped a lot. Tony had been alerted to the fact that he would have been shot in the neck in the original day, and Jack knew that he had to make sure that Claudia did not die.

"So this all ends with an interrogation that goes wrong, and with you killing Nina?," Tony asked Jack. Alex had told them about Tony's interrogation of Nina that led to her being tortured, and the fake suicide attempt. Although the idea of throwing their head into a sharp needle in order to pierce the carotid sounded gruesome, both Jack and Tony knew that it would not be too out there for Nina, especially if it could offer her a chance to escape once more.

"I think we need to inform President Palmer soon, so that we can mobilise tac teams and send them into Mexico, to secure the meeting place. That way, they can be there to capture Nina, Amador and the Salazar brothers," Jack asked, as he leafed through the couple of pages of events that Alex had written down for them.

**11.25am American Airways LAX2424**

Tru had been asleep for the past 30 minutes, but Jack Harper soon put an end to her slumber by sitting down next to her and tapping her shoulder. Groaning as she woke and saw his grinning face, Tru wondered how much longer the flight was going to take.

"I'm going to assume you already knew I was on board, Tru," Jack Harper said.

"Yeah, but I decided not to disturb you. Seems that I like you more when you're not awake," Tru replied.

"How are you going to get into CTU yourselves, Tru? I'm sure they don't give free passes to family," Jack smirked. He knew that he was going to find it close to impossible to maintain fate, but was hoping that the inexperience of Tru's cousin would give him a slight advantage.

"I'm going to assume that they'll let me in. If not, I can always phone Alex and he can come out and meet me outside of the building. Either way, I'm going to help him save his sister," Tru told him. Nodding, Jack went back to his seat. He knew that Tru wasn't giving to give much away, so he had to rely on every small bit of information he could get from her.

**11.30am, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex had now joined Jack, Tony and Gael in Jack's office in order to clarify anything he had written down that they might misunderstand. He realised that as they had been given a second chance to live the day, that he should take it and tell the truth about an event that had happened some years before.

"Jack, I have to tell you something about Nina," Alex spoke, and the room went deathly silent. He could feel three pairs of eyes staring at him.

"What about Nina?," Jack asked. He had no idea what Alex was going to tell him, but hoped that it had nothing to do with his family, or any bombshells that would affect CTU in the future.

"You remember the time I went to visit her in Tunisia, and I got caught up in an explosion? It turned out to be a distraction in order to let Nina escape. I knew the same day, but asked the people there not to tell CTU. I felt that it was best for you not to know," Alex spoke, whilst trying to gauge what Jack's reaction would be. Jack himself was silent for a moment, before asking Tony and Gael to leave the room. When they had left, Jack looked at Alex.

"Did you tell me this yesterday?," Jack asked, and Alex wondered if it would be better to lie or to tell the truth, but he had no idea which Jack would prefer.

"No, I didn't Jack, but now we have a second chance to live this day over, I felt that you deserved to know," Alex replied. Jack looked disappointed at this, and Alex wondered if the revelation had hurt him on the inside.

"Would you have ever told me?," Jack asked, and Alex had to consider his answer. He had thought that Nina would never be seen again by CTU, or be involved in anything involving the agency, but now he knew that it was almost her, and Jack's, destiny to be reunited time and time again until one of them killed the other.

"Probably, Jack, yes," Alex told him truthfully. He knew that he had let Jack down, and he could see the look of betrayal in his eyes. Jack sighed.

"Why was the last thing that you remember Nina's death?," Jack asked, referring to the original day before the rewind. Alex was surprised by the question, but he knew that it was going to be asked eventually.

"She asked me for my help, Jack. That's what happens, someone dies and they ask Tru, or in case me, for help. The day rewinds and then you try to save them," Alex replied. Jack looked at him, before chuckling.

"Nina asked for your help? Why bother? I mean, her life was shit, and I know that if she got another chance at life, she would only screw up again," Jack remarked bitterly.

"Noone asks for help voluntarily, Jack, they're dead. I'm not sure why they ask for help, but it's often because they died unnatural deaths. You won't find someone who died peacefully in their bed asking for help, because they are at peace," Alex told him. He was hoping that if they saved Nina, perhaps there would be a real reason for it.

"OK, so say I let Nina live. She's only going to be going to jail with the possibility of being executed. Now, I'm sure she isn't nostalgic for prison food and cells, so I'm assuming that we, and her, will get something out of this?," Jack asked.

"I can't promise anything, Jack," Alex replied. He hoped that Tru would get to LA soon, and that she would know enough about the rewind days to give Jack some sort of answer.

**1.40pm (Mexico City time), hotel in Mexico City, Mexico**

Nina sighed as she looked out of the window onto the busy street below. It was winter, but still fairly hot in the Mexican capital. Taking a drink from a bottle of water, she turned around and walked into the bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed just how much her appearance had changed over the past few years. Her dark hair was now much longer, just reaching her shoulders, whilst her eyes were weary and tired, looking much older than her 33 years would suggest. Her skin had managed to tan slightly, and her face was not as skeletal as it used to be. She was waiting for Cale and the others to get the cars, before they would set off north to Las Nieves, in the central Durango state of Mexico. There they would take part in an auction for the much sought after Cordilla virus. She had been apprehensive about this mission, as she knew that her employees were very likely to use it to mass murder civilians. Although she had been indirectly involved in such plots before, including the nuke in Los Angeles and the bombs that blew up CTU, she knew that it wasn't what she wanted to do with her life. Terrorism had once seemed like an exiting career, something he could make a lot of money out of, and now she was nothing more than a middleman for a much bigger fish in the terrorism oceans. Hearing car horns outside, she went up to the window and peered out. Noticing Cale looking up at her from one of the black SUVs, she gestured that she was coming. As she left the room, she felt a chill run down her spine. Not being a superstitious person, she would normally think nothing of it, but this time, she felt as if her life was sand in a hourglass.

**11.45am, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex had been sat in Jack's office alone for the past ten minutes ever since Jack had left to talk to Kim about Nina. He had asked Jack not to mention that in the original day, that Kim would be close to being shot by Nina, and Jack had assured him he would only give her the most basic details. As Jack came back in, Alex watched him return to his seat.

"How did she take it?," Alex asked. He had watched Jack talk to Kim from Jack's office, but had not been able to see Kim's reaction.

"Not well, but I've assured her that CTU are close to apprehending her," Jack replied, as he looked down at his daughter. Her eyes had welled up, but Jack had managed to keep her calm.

"I'm sorry, Jack, I should have told you back then," Alex told him, his voice regretful. He had kept the news away from Jack and Kim in order to protect them, not for them to suddenly find out years later when they were only just beginning to truly get over Teri's death.

"You should have, Alex, but I suppose I can understand why you didn't," Jack replied. He was angry at Alex for not at least telling him in private, so that he could have had the chance to tell Kim earlier. Alex stood up and was about to leave, but stopped.

"Jack, if this was the day Teri died, or the day Mason died, I would be trying even harder to save them, but I didn't even know that my cousin was able to do this. I don't even think she knew back then," Alex told him. He knew that a lot of people had died on those two days – Walsh, Jamey, Paula, Mason were just a few of the people he would have tried to save if he could – and wondered why it was only now that he had been able to relive a day. He also wondered if he was going to keep this ability, or if it would just vanish as mysteriously as it came.

"I know, Alex. I'm sure everyone has a day or two that they want to relive in order to save someone who went too soon," Jack replied.

Kim was now staring at her screen, trying hard not to cry. Her mother's killer was on the loose, and she couldn't do anything about it. Her father seemed to be keeping some details away from her, and she wondered if Nina was in Los Angeles, or at least close by, but then she reasoned that her father had asked her to leave at the usual time no matter what. She considered the possibility that CTU were going to arrest her today, and that they would only bring her to CTU after she left. Deciding to go along with her father's wishes, she told herself to leave at 5pm and no later. If they did bring Nina into CTU, she didn't want to have to see her. Looking up at her father's office, she saw Alex walking out of it. Standing up, she walked towards him.

"Alex, are they going to arrest her?," Kim asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Alex knew that he couldn't tell her too much.

"Maybe, Kim. They think they might have in custody tonight, but your dad thinks that it's best if you leave at the normal time," Alex replied. He knew what had happened the night before, when Nina had been marched past Kim. Their eyes had met, and Alex could see the mixture of hate and fear in Kim's eyes, and he knew that he didn't want to put her through that again.

"If they do, will someone at least call me? I want to know," Kim asked, her eyes still tearful. It usually took about seven years to get over the death of a parent, and it had only been about four or five since her mother's murder. Alex nodded.

"As soon as we do, I promise," Alex replied. He knew that Nina was expected back at CTU at around 2am, so assumed that Kim would be asleep by then, but if they call her cell, it would most likely go to voice mail, so that she wouldn't be disturbed. That way, they could get Nina into custody and out of CTU before the morning.

**2.00pm (Mexico City time), road outside Mexico City**

Nina was busy talking to her employer on her cell, explaining that they were on their way to Las Nieves, and that they were on schedule. The auction was to take place at night, in a deserted are well away from prying eyes. Although she had only met Amador once, she had done so much research on him that it was if she had known him for years. He was a British arms dealer, fluent in many languages and known to be arrogant. Nina didn't know who the other party would be, although she assumed that few legitimate parties would be interested in buying a virus from an international criminal. Nina's life for the past few years had consisted mostly of flying around the Americas – excluding the United States, of course – and she had grown confident that CTU had no idea about her escape. She had not expected Alex to tell them as soon as he found out, and was pleased to know that he had indeed seemed to have kept quiet about it.

**12.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Michelle was glad to have a few minutes alone with Tony in his office, and the pair were in deep conversation. Tony had told her about what had happened the night before, and although she was sceptical of the rewind theory, she decided that it couldn't hurt to go along with it and see if it was indeed true.

"Alex tells me that after I got shot, you did great in my place. You took charge and you kept CTU going. I want you to know I'm proud of you, Michelle," Tony spoke, smiling. He was certainly glad that he wouldn't be getting shot this time around if they could help it, but he was also disappointed that Michelle's few hours in charge would probably not go ahead as they did.

"I'm sure I did, Tony, but I don't want you to nearly get killed for me to have that chance," Michelle replied. She wondered how Alex had come up with such a story, and wondered what it would take for her to believe in him.

**12.15pm, a road in Los Angeles**

As the car drove through the sun baked streets, the passenger in the back seat wiped his brow. Los Angeles didn't have seasons like his country, and it seemed like even the hottest of heat waves during summer couldn't compete with Los Angeles sometimes. Checking the time, Stephen Saunders decided that he had plenty of time to get some sleep at the hotel. It was going to be a very busy day for him tomorrow, and he had to be up very early in order to put his plan into action.

**12.25pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Chloe smiled slightly as she found the information she had been looking for. Noticing Jack close by, she got his attention, before showing him passport details of a Sarah Berkeley.

"She flew into Mexico City from Bogotá this morning, Jack," Chloe informed him. His eyes were glued to her face.

"That's her. That's Nina," Jack replied. His belief in the rewind day had just gotten a whole lot stronger.


	5. Motive, Means, Opportunity

**1.00pm, Federal Holding Facility, Downey, California**

Jack and Chase were making their way through security on their way to meet Ramon Salazar, armed with the information that Alex had given them. This time, Ramon would not be given the chance to kill Douglas Shaye, his lawyer. The pen that he had used to sign some papers that meant better conditions for him and then stabbed into Shaye's neck had been replaced with a smaller pen that could cause little damage to a man's throat. Even so, Jack still had to get Ramon out of jail, and hoped that informing Palmer of the sting operation earlier in the day would give him a huge advantage.

**1.15pm, American Airways LAX2424**

Tru was growing impatient of the long flight. She knew that her first rewind was confusing and very hard to get used to, and had not stopped thinking about Alex and Nina. Looking over at Jack Harper, who was once more fast asleep, she wondered if this new playing field, and new individual playing the game, might be more of an advantage for him.

**1.25pm, road north of Celaya, Mexico**

Nina gazed out of the window as the car sped down the dusty motorway. They had just gone through the city of Celaya, and now the houses were being replaced by sparse tress and vegetation lining the wide, four-lane road. Taking a drink of water, she thought of the money that she had temporary control over. $240 million for a small vial of a deadly virus, and she had no idea what her employer wanted it for. She considered attempting to flee with the money – after all, it would be enough to disappear forever – and so deprive her boss of the virus, but reasoned that the virus would only go to someone else, and that she would little or no chance of getting away from Cale and the others without looking very suspicious.

**1.30pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex was in the room where Nina was supposed to die, and he was trying to recall exactly where Nina was when she had asked for his help. Placing a gun on the floor as close to where he could remember a gun lying, he led down in the position where Nina had been, and tried to reach the gun, remembering that Nina had been shot in the right shoulder and was left-handed. Kim had told him seconds before he had found Jack and Nina that Nina was threatening to shoot her, and Alex knew that Nina would not give up if there was a slim chance of her escaping, or at least surviving. Straining to reach the gun, Alex realised that he could barely reach it, never mind use it, and he came to a dark conclusion – Jack had murdered Nina in cold blood and not in self-defence. Getting back to his feet, he quietly left the room. He knew that it would be useless to ask Jack about the murder, as Jack had no recollection of the event itself.

Entering the bullpen, Alex noticed that Jack and Chase had returned from Downey, and that Jack was talking to Chloe in his office. Looking up at them as he returned to his station, he was surprised to see Jack yelling at Chloe, who looked even more uncomfortable than usual. Over the past few months, Jack's behaviour had been erratic at times, and most of the agents had assumed it was just stress eating away at him.

**1.45pm, road north north of Celaya, Mexico**

Nina had dozed off and had been asleep for a few minutes, before being abruptly woken as the car drove over a bump. Yawning quietly, she looked at Cale, who apologised. Checking the time on her watch, Nina sighed. The journey was going to be long and dull, and all for a deal. She knew that Amador avoided urban areas for his deals, but she wondered why they had to go to Las Nieves. Her researching of Amador had told her that Amador was probably hiding one or two important details, details that she personally would prefer to know beforehand. Closing her eyes again, she soon drifted off back to sleep.

**1.50pm, Archives room, CTU**

Alex was in the Archives room, busy finding the camera footage for the room that Nina was to die in. Finding it, he looked at the recent footage of the last half hour, which included his pretending to be injured and reaching for a gun. As he was about to delete the data, he paused and rewound. He had seen Jack crouching down near Nina's body when he had first gone into the room, and Alex realised that if Jack had been standing there when he shot Nina, then he would have been blocking the camera. Although Alex could understand Jack's sometimes overpowering need to avenge Teri's death, he was shocked that Jack would actually try and cover up his crime. Quickly deleting the data, he looked around the room until he found where the spare cameras were stored. Grabbing one, he quietly snuck out of the room, making sure noone saw him.

**1.55pm, Head of Field Ops Office, CTU**

As Jack wiped the pool of heroin off of his desk, he sighed. He knew that he had to become addicted in order to infiltrate the Salazar cartel, but now that he was back out, he was still so dependant on the drug. Heroin had become an easy way to deal with his pain, but he knew that it was affecting him in other, more negative ways. Opening the windows again, which he had closed for privacy minutes before, he looked down at the bullpen, at Kim. Smiling as he saw her hard at work, he told himself that he had to get off of heroin both for himself and for Kim.

**1.59pm, CTU**

Alex had managed to find a second camera port in the room, which would give them a clearer view of the murder if he failed to save Nina. He knew that it would incriminate Jack, but he also knew that the law was there for a reason, and that there was a world of difference between self-defence, and what Jack had done.


	6. So It Begins

**2.00pm, road in Mexico**

Having just been on the phone to her employer, Nina was concerned. Their insider in CTU had informed them that someone had accessed information on Amador at CTULA, although the informer had declined to say who – the mole was a low level technician and could only give them very basic information. Nina had wondered why they bothered to have someone so low down the chain, but now she understood. Even so, she was now more alert than she had been, wondering if CTU knew anything of her involvement.

**2.05pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Alex walked back into the bullpen, he quietly went straight to his workstation. Checking the time, he realised that they had less than thirteen hours before Nina's potential time of death, in which CTU had to secure a virus, arrest the Salazars, Amador and Nina, as well as prevent any unwanted innocent deaths. Claudia Hernandez, Hector Salazar's girlfriend, had been killed the night before, and Alex wanted to keep her alive just as much as he wanted to keep Nina and Kim alive.

Chase was in the break room, trying to pluck up the courage to tell Jack that he was in a relationship with Kim. They had been going out for a couple of months now, and they both loved each other. Sighing as he sipped from a mug of lukewarm coffee, he could only hope that Jack would react positively. He was very protective of his daughter, and chase knew that Jack would want only the most trustworthy man to be in a relationship with his daughter – however, no matter how much Jack trusted him, Chase knew that his job would certainly be a problem for Jack. Working for CTU had caused the death of his wife.

Entering the break room, Alex saw Chase sitting at the table deep in thought. Thinking back to day one, he guessed that Chase was thinking of his relationship with Kim. Going to the coffee machine to get himself a drink, he looked at Chase, who didn't seem to have noticed him.

"You told him yesterday, by the way," Alex spoke as he sat down at the table with his drink. Chase looked up at him, confused for a moment, before he realised that Alex was referring to the relived day.

"Really? How did that go?," Chase asked, glad that he had the chance to decide again, although he wasn't sure if the day had been lived, or if it had just been wiped clean and a replacement that had the exact same events in had been placed.

"Not too well, it does cause some tension between you. If I were you, I would wait until the weekend, when you and Kim can tell him in a more private and less stressful environment. Kim loves you, and I can tell that you love her, and I don't think you'll do the relationship any good by telling Jack today," Alex replied. He was glad that he had the chance to change events in this way, especially as he could prevent people getting hurt. Nodding, Chase had made his decision.

"OK, I'll wait a few days, talk to him then. Thanks, Alex," Chase spoke before standing up.

"You're more than welcome. This relived day isn't just to save Nina, Chase, it's also to change events for people's advantages," Alex replied.

"Did I have any contact with Nina last night?," Chase asked. He had only heard of the woman and seen a couple of pictures of her, and was curious to know if he had met her before Jack had killed her.

"At one point down in Mexico, she took you hostage, but Jack found you. You were both on the plane back here, and you asked her not to mess Jack around, according to you when you returned to CTU. I think that's all the contact you had with her," Alex informed him, recalling some of the events of Nina's last couple of hours before the day had rewound. The image of Nina lying dead on the floor with wide open eyes was still in his mind, and he hoped that it wouldn't be repeated a second, and final, time. He had worked out that she couldn't reach the gun to defend herself – especially as he couldn't and she was visibly shorter – but knew that stopping earlier events was just as important as stopping Nina from attempting to escape. Now alone in the room, Alex took a look at the clock that hung close to the door.

**2.20pm, Amador's convoy, northern Mexico**

Michael Amador, British arm dealer, was shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand as he waited for the cars to be refuelled. He had just under seven hours to drive to Las Nieves, where he would hold the auction for the Cordilla virus, one of the buyers being Nina Myers. He had worked with Nina before, and was very aware of what sort of person she was, and that he had to get there early so that he could secure the auction site.

"Mr Amador, we're ready to leave," called out a young Russian man called Yuri, who was sat in the driver's seat of a black SUV. His blond hair was shaved, and his dark brown eyes showed an innocence that didn't exist. He was one of Amador's more ruthless men, and he had killed so many people that he counted his victims in the tens. As Amador climbed into the front passenger seat of Yuri's car, he took one last look at the convoy via the rear view mirror, before instructing Yuri to set off.

**2.25pm, Los Angeles International Airport**

As Tru left the airport, she noticed that Harper was close by, although he himself seemed preoccupied with talking into his cell. Casting one last suspicious glance at him before climbing into a nearby cab, she hoped that he wouldn't cause any trouble.

Harper, meanwhile, was hard at work trying to find a way into CTU, or at least a way to get to one of the agents.

"It's CTU, the counter terrorist place. Look, just give me the information," Harper spoke, standing in the shade out of the boiling hot Los Angeles sun. Nodding as his contact gave him some details, he waited patiently for the guy to finish before replying.

"That will be great, Mike, thanks," he spoke, before clapping his phone shut. Looking around for an available cab, he knew exactly what to do.

**2.30pm, Nina's convoy, Central Mexico**

"Amador? It's Nina. I'm on my way to the meeting place, should be there on time," Nina spoke as he talked to Amador via cell phone.

"Good. I trust your employers are willing to pay a large amount for this virus? Believe me, it is worth a bloody lot!," Amador replied.

"Yes, they are," Nina confirmed. She wanted to tell Amador of her concerns about CTU, but decided that she neither wanted to overreact nor did she want to defy her employers. They were not the sort of person that tolerated ineptitude from people who worked for them.

"The virus itself is currently in liquid form, although as you assure me that your employer has scientists to mechanise it, I'm sure that it won't be too much of a problem?," Amador informed her.

"Yes, they have enough resources to get the virus mechanised quickly," Nina replied. Like the day of the nuke, she didn't want innocent people to die, but this was for money, plus she knew when she accepted her employer's offer that he would be interested in these more unconventional weapons.

**2.35pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Returning to his station, Alex looked up at Jack's office and hoped that he would be able to take the news of Kim's relationship with Chase well on the day that he was told, and was pleased that the rewind day had already resulted in a positive change. Hoping that the trend continued, he noticed that he had an email from Kim.

"_Alex, Dad told me about what happened and the reliving day. I don't know whether to believe it or not, but I'm glad that you, Dad and others tried to keep it away from me, to protect me. I promise you that I won't be anywhere near CTU tonight. As for Nina, I don't know if I want her to die – she did kill my mother, but Nina's death won't bring my mother back. So, I'm letting you know that I'll accept any outcome of the night, whether she lives or whether she dies._

_Kim"_

Looking over at Kim, who was deep in conversation with Adam, Alex smiled. He had hoped that the whole situation would be sorted out without Kim ever having to know, but now that he knew of Kim's opinion on Nina's death, he could use that to protect his sister from Jack's intense need for revenge.

**2.40pm, hotel, Los Angeles**

Stephen Saunders was lying on his hotel bed, his mind full of his plans for vengeance. He had been involved in Operation Nightfall, but had been captured by the Serbians. He had hoped that the American government – who he was working for as a loanee from MI6 – would get him out of the Balkans, but he was put in a jail for years, tortured until he nearly lost his mind. When he was finally freed after the 2000 overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic, he had returned to Britain intent on making the US government pay. He was going to pay Amador and Alvers a lot of money to acquire the Cordilla virus, and he knew that the following day would be very dangerous, but he had planned it out well, and was sure that he would be successful.

**2.45pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Tru walked into CTU, she looked around and saw a huge mass of technology and humanity working together. She saw the numerous monitors on the walls, the rows of computers, at which were sat busy agents. Noticing her cousin, she walked towards him with relief.

"Hi Tru, it's nice to see you," Alex spoke as she approached. The young woman, with long brown hair and expressive brown eyes, had never been inside CTU, and it was like a whole different world to the one she knew.

"Nice to see you too, Alex," Tru replied.

"There's only a few people here who know about the rewind day, Tru. We've already taken some action to try and prevent some of the events of day one, but a lot is out of our hands until tonight when the actual situation takes place," Alex informed her as the pair climbed the stairs to Jack's office.

"There's one guy, a Jack Harper, he relives the days too, but he's like the exact opposite of me, like he's Fate and works to keep the person dead. He's here in LA but I don't think he's gonna be much of a problem," Tru told him. She hadn't seen Harper since they had left the airport separately, and Tru could only assume that he was attempting to weasel his way into CTU. As they entered Jack's office, he stood up and walked over to the pair. Shaking Tru's hand as he was introduced to her, he was glad to be able to hear more about days being relived, something he hoped would never happen to him.

"So, you're the woman who relives days? How does it work, exactly?," a curious Jack asked, and Tru was only too happy to reply.

"I'm a medical student, working part-time in a morgue, so that's where most of the people who ask me for help are at the time of asking. This morning, when I woke up, I knew that I was reliving a day, but that no one had asked me for help, which was confusing until Alex called me," Tru replied.

Meanwhile, back in the bullpen, Kim was hard at work until her phone rang. Finishing off a task quickly before picking it up, she heard silence.

"Hello?," Kim asked, wondering if it was a prank, although as her phone rang, it would have to be from inside CTULA as her number was an extension.

"Kim Bauer, right?," Jack Harper spoke as he leaned against a streetlight close to CTU. His contacts in Los Angeles had managed to find him enough information to be able to make the call.

"Yeah? Who am I speaking to, please?," Kim asked, trying to remember the voice, although she didn't recognise it at all.

"My name isn't important. What is important happens tonight, and I suggest you pull the trigger and kill Nina Myers rather than leaving it to Daddy to save you as usual," Harper continued, and Kim's face grew pale. Looking at Chloe, she signalled to her, and as the older woman approached, she asked quietly for the call to be traced.

"I don't know what you are talking about, sir, but nothing like that is going to happen," Kim spoke, looking at Alex and Tru as they came down the stairs.

"Alex, the call is coming from outside the building, they sound like they know something about tonight," Chloe informed him, before he and Tru walked quickly towards the entrance. As they walked outside, and looked around, Tru noticed Jack Harper walking away from the area, only to be chased by the pair.

"Hey!," Harper protested as Alex grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, before chuckling as he noticed Tru.

"Meet my cousin, Jack," Tru told him as Alex handcuffed him before leading him back to CTU.

"I've done nothing illegal," Harper informed the pair as they walked back into CTU, where a concerned Jack was now standing close to Kim.

"Making harassing phone calls to federal agents isn't illegal? Not to mention that you seem to have information on a current terrorist threat," Jack told him as he was led to a holding room by two guards.

"That's Jack Harper, the man who tries to stop me saving the people who ask for my help," Tru explained to the small group of CTU agents who were looking at her.

_**14:59:57**_

_**14:59:58**_

_**14:59:59**_

_**15:00:00**_


	7. Wiping Smugness Off Faces

**3.00pm, Holding Room 2, CTU Los Angeles**

An unimpressed Alex looked straight at Jack Harper as he entered the room.

"You know, we can hold you for a long time without even so much as charging you with anything. That should give us enough time to save Nina and change the course of events in our favour," Alex informed Harper as he stood close to the table. Jack looked up at him and shrugged.

"Might improve your chances, Alex, but it's the little things you got to look out for. Just because you know how your sister died and how you could prevent it, doesn't mean that you're winning," Harper replied. He didn't mind being locked up in the room for as long as CTU needed, it wasn't as if he was the only card that Fate had in her hands. Alex looked at him with a smirk on his face.

"Believe me, Harper, this is not your usual rewind day. We're already changing the course of the day, and with the resources we have, I can ensure that she survives," Alex spoke, as he looked down at the handcuffed man.

"Of course she will if you try hard enough, Alex, but just how far are you willing to go to ensure that?," Harper asked, before a grin appeared on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?," Alex asked, but he already knew exactly what Harper had meant.

"Your sister was killed by an agent, right? I mean, if your plans to save her fail and they person who originally killed her tries again..," Harper replied, and Alex decided that he had heard enough. As he turned and headed for the door, Harper spoke again to make sure his point had sunk in.

"Watch out for those little things, Alex!," Harper shouted as the door closed behind Alex.

Outside the holding room and in the quiet corridor, Alex paced back and forth. He mentally recalled everything that he and others had done so far to change the course of the day. Kim had been told to go home at the normal time no matter what, CTU had decided to leave Kyle Singer's fate up to his parents, Alex had installed a second camera in case the worst happened, and the President had been informed of what was going to go down in Mexico. Alex was sure that without Kim being there, and without them torturing Nina, then Jack would have no chance to shoot Nina, but there really was no way to truly prevent Nina's death. Leaning against the wall, with his head down, he realised that all his work to help save Nina could be destroyed in a second.

**3.10pm, Nina's convoy, Central Mexico**

The convoy had stopped for a moment, and Nina was walking close to the cars, taking the time to stretch her legs. Holding a gun in her hand even though she knew that there was little danger in this rural, barren part of Mexico, the ever alert Nina didn't want to take any chances, especially as she already felt weak from the intense heat. Looking over at Cale, who was stood under a tree close by, talking on his cell, she decided to walk over to him to see what was up. As she approached, Cale quickly finished his call, which made Nina suspicious.

"Business or pleasure?," Nina asked nonchalantly, as Cale put his cell back in his pocket.

"Pleasure, Nina. I was on the phone to my girlfriend, I was just seeing how she was, I haven't seen her for a while," Cale replied, but Nina was an expert at spotting a liar, and she knew she had one in front of her.

"Really? So how come you looked so worried when you saw I was approaching you?," Nina enquired, and Cale couldn't even look at her, especially after she pulled out her gun, placed it at his forehead and clicked off the safety.

"Look, Nina, it was nothing more than a call to my girlfriend, I promise," Cale pleaded, but Nina held out her free hand.

"Give me the phone," Nina ordered, like a mother talking to her small child. Cale sighed, before passing her the cell. Flipping it open, Nina dialled the number that Cale had last phoned, and placed the phone next to her ear.

"Hello?," a woman's voice could be heard on the other end, and Nina quickly decided that Cale was telling the truth. Clapping the phone shut, before handing it back to Cale, she looked at him.

"Cale, today I've been feeling far more paranoid than I ever have before, and you acting all suspicious isn't helping," Nina explained, and Cale nodded. As she withdrew her gun and placed it back under her shirt, she turned away from Cale and walked back towards the cars. Getting into the front passenger seat, she sighed as she reached for her bottle of water. The paranoia had been eating away at her for hours, and she didn't like it at all, especially as she was certain that CTU were close to realising that she was involved with this deal, although she knew that she had no choice but to go ahead and bid for the virus.

**3.20pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Jack was looking at a map of the area in Mexico where the auction was to take place. He was so engrossed in his study of the region that he didn't notice Alex walk in and sit down nearby. When he did, he noticed that Alex looked preoccupied.

"You OK, Alex?," Jack asked, and Alex looked at him.

"I'm fine, Jack, it's just that I need you to promise something," Alex asked, his voice quiet but determined.

"Depends on what you want me to promise," Jack replied, unsure of what Alex was talking about.

"No matter what, don't kill Nina tonight, you don't need that burden on yourself, Jack. Let the authorities deal with her," Alex spoke, and Jack looked away for a moment. He had missed many chances to kill Nina in revenge for his wife's death, and he didn't know for sure if he could promise not to take any chance he got. Even so, he knew that he had to give Alex an answer he would be satisified with.

"If we get her to CTU, if we keep her secured, then I promise not to kill her, Alex, but if she tries to escape, I can't promise anything. Hell, it might not even be me who kills her if she does," Jack spoke, and Alex nodded. It wasn't a solid promise, but it was close enough for now. Standing up again, he looked at Jack.

"That's fine with me, Jack," he replied. Walking out of Jack's office, Alex noticed Ryan Chappelle walking into CTU and as he climbed down the stairs to the bullpen, he noticed Chappelle was walking towards him.

"Agent Myers, can you tell me what a rewind day is?," Chappelle asked, apparently amused by the phrase, and Alex could tell that this was not going to be good.

"I understand that you might be sceptical about it, but you can talk to my cousin, who has experienced these days before," Alex replied, but Chappelle simply nodded.

"You and Ms Davies are free to play Mulder and Scully in your free time, Agent Myers, but when you're on duty, you're working for CTU. I've ordered the release of Jack Harper, and I order you to leave him alone," Chappelle replied, and Alex tried hard not to reply angrily.

"With all due respect, sir, Harper may be a threat, and you don't know what has been going on here today," Alex spoke, trying not to piss Chappelle off any more, but it didn't seem to have worked.

"With all due respect, Agent, you have nothing on Harper, and I do know what's been going on today. You tried to access confidential intel that you have no right to see, and you were arrested at one point by Jack Bauer on suspicion of being a mole. It sounds more like you're trying to become your sister, not save her!," Chappelle told him, and Alex could feel the embarrassment as it grew inside him. He had hoped to keep the earlier incident quiet, and now that Harper had been released and untouchable, he was hoping that something could be said or done to convince Chappelle.

"Look, sir, just stay here for a few hours, take note of what we do and you'll see that this is all really happening. The day has rewound for me, for Tru and for that Jack Harper guy, and that is so we can prevent Nina's death," Alex asked, his voice slightly quieter, but he had no intention of pleading with Chappelle, who looked at him straight in the eyes.

"I'll do that, Agent Myers, but don't think for a minute that I believe your fairy tales. As for this morning, you're lucky that you're not going to be investigated for what you did," Chappelle told him, before he turned around and headed for Tony's office. As he did, Alex turned around and walked towards the break room. Inside, he slammed his fist against the table in frustration, only for Kim to walk in behind him.

"Alex? Are you OK? I heard everything that you and Chappelle just said," Kim asked as Alex sat down at the table. For a moment, he didn't respond but eventually looked up at her.

"I'm fine, it's just the fact that this is all so crazy, and it doesn't help that Chappelle just went and embarrassed me in front of everyone," Alex replied.

"Chappelle doesn't know anything about what happens here, Alex, and it's got to be crazy, living a day all over again. I can't say I envy you," Kim spoke as she sat down opposite Alex.

"I'm sorry all this is happening, Kim, just so we can save the woman who killed your mother," Alex spoke, looking at Kim with concerned eyes, but Kim just shook her head.

"She asked for your help, Alex, so maybe there's a reason. Besides, I don't want Nina to be murdered any more than you do," Kim replied, and the pair smiled at each other, knowing that they were in agreement and that Nina's previous actions were not going to influence the outcome of the day if they could help it.

**3.30pm, Nina's convoy, Central Mexico**

Nina and Cale had said nothing to each other since the cell phone incident, and Nina had been glancing at him a few times since they had returned to their journey. Sighing, she decided to break the atmosphere.

"I'm sorry, Cale, I just need to relax," Nina told him, although relaxation was not something she was used to. Cale looked over at her and nodded.

"It's OK, Nina. I just thought you would have been pissed at me," Cale replied, and Nina could only chuckle at his reply.

"Cale, I'm not going to be pissed just because of one phone call. Just don't act like a mole hiding in a dark corner of a federal building!," Nina spoke, laughing as she used her own history to put her point across, and to her it had seemed like Cale was her back at CTU, hiding in the shadows as she communicated with the Drazens or the numerous other groups who had hired her to help them out.

"I'll remember that next time, Nina," Cale spoke, and the atmosphere became a lot lighter as the silence returned without the awkwardness.

**3.35pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex was now back in the room where Nina was meant to die, and as he crouched down close to the spot where he saw her before the rewind, he placed his hand on the floor. He knew that it would be hard for people like Chappelle to understand why he was being so protective of a mass murderer and terrorist, and he knew that Nina had done a lot of bad things that she deserved to spend the rest of her life in prison for them, but he wondered why it was so hard for them to realise that she was his sister, that he still loved her even after everything that had happened. Noticing someone enter the room, he turned around to see Jack looking at him from the doorway.

"Tell me how it happened last night, Alex. I need to know," Jack asked, and Alex stood up before walking closer to Jack.

"Nina managed to escape, and Kim was one of the people who went after her. Nina was in here, and Kim had found her. They pointed guns at each other, neither wanted to shoot the other according to Kim, and then you found them, shot Nina in the right shoulder, and asked Kim to leave the room. I came in minutes later, and she was dead – when the day rewound, I saw images, images of you asking her something, of her trying to reach her gun to defend herself but failing to even touch it, of the moment when you fired three bullets into her chest," Alex spoke. Jack was looking down at the ground where Alex had just had his hand, then looked back up at Alex.

"I promise you that it won't happen again, Alex," Jack replied. Of course, with Kim going home at the regular time it was unlikely that the situation would repeat itself, but Jack never thought he would go so far as kill Nina whilst she was lying on the floor injured and defenceless. Sure, he had been close to killing her whilst she was defenceless before, but this situation seemed way too cold-blooded, even if it did involve Nina.

**3.40pm, cafe, Los Angeles**

Jack Harper was enjoying a cold drink as he basked in the afternoon sun, and he wondered what exactly he was going to do to prevent Alex and Tru from saving Nina Myers. Unfortunately for him, a police officer approached.

"You Jack Harper?," the officer, a youngish white man with cropped brown hair and hazel eyes, asked Jack, who nodded.

"Good, because you're under arrest. Stand up and put your hands behind your back, please," the officer asked him, and Jack looked at him with shock. As he did what he was told, Harper knew that he had to ask.

"Did CTU ask you to arrest me, because they released me," Harper continued, but the officer didn't reply and as he was taken to the police car, Harper continued to protest, even as the officer read him his rights.

"Look, Mr Harper, someone from inside CTU did call me, but I'm taking you to the precinct, not CTU," the officer replied, which only made Harper even more confused.

**3.45pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Kim Bauer couldn't contain her laughter as she listened in to the police radio, and heard of Harper's arrest, although she had to force herself to be quiet as she saw Chappelle emerging from Tony's office. As Alex came back into the main bullpen, she turned off the police radio and walked over to Alex's desk.

"Got some good news. I called the police and told them that someone was harassing me at work, and Harper just got arrested. He's being taken to a police station now," Kim informed him, and a broad smile grew on Alex's face.

"That's great, Kim, just brilliant," Alex replied, appreciative of the effort Kim had made to help him and Tru out.

"Hey, it was nothing. I'm just glad that I could help before I go," Kim spoke.

**3.50pm, Amador's convoy, Mexico**

Amador's convoy had not stopped for a while like Nina's had, and so he was far closer to Las Nieves than anyone else involved in the auction. Amador himself had his chair pushed backwards, and he was relaxing with his eyes closed, until the car came to a sudden stop, and Amador went flying forward. Cursing angrily at his driver, he looked out of the window and saw numerous armed men pointing weapons at him. Deciding not to mess with them, he sheepishly put his hands up in the air as one of them approached the car., before he was dragged out of the vehicle and thrown to the ground. Taking off his helmet, Chase Edmunds looked at the captured arms dealer with satisfaction, before pulling out his cell phone.

"Jack? It's Chase, we've caught Amador," he informed his partner, and Chase could almost sense the look on Jack's face. Of course, he was also wearing a huge grin on his face as well. As two of his men picked Amador off of the ground, he looked at the arms dealer.

"You're going to be taken to CTU Los Angeles, where we'll sort out this little virus problem of yours. As for Nina Myers, we'll be taking care of her later today," Chase informed him as the arms dealer glared at him.

_**15:59:57**_

_**15:59:58**_

_**15:59:59**_

_**16:00:00**_


	8. The Roots Of The Plan

**16.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

CTU had just been informed of the capture of Michael Amador, and no agent was happier to hear the news than Alex. The vials had been found in Amador's possession – one was actually a bomb that Chase had managed to destroy in Mexico after taking Alex's advice to try and open one – the one that whirs is a bomb, and he should throw it as far away from himself and others as possible. Alex, who was in Jack's office, was more optimistic of their chances of protecting Nina now that Amador was in CTU custody.

"So, what's the plan for tonight? Why not find Nina and arrest her before she gets to the meeting point?," Alex asked Jack.

"The plan is to get Nina to Las Nieves, surround her and arrest her and anyone else she has with her, then we'll bring her back here," Jack explained. He hoped that Nina would be easy to capture, especially as they had hours to set up the ambush.

"What about Amador, then? Won't she be expecting to see him there?," Alex enquired. Amador was being transported to CTULA and would arrive within the hour.

"We'll get him to agree to take part in a sting operation, and later on we'll use him to find the other buyers that you mentioned earlier," Jack replied. Alex's information from day one was turning out to be valuable for CTU.

**16.05pm, Nina's convoy, Central Mexico**

The convoy was still four hours away from Las Nieves, and Nina was growing tired of the journey. She hated being stuck in a vehicle for hours at a time, and was becoming impatient as she just wanted the deal to be over and done with, and then she could move on to a new employer, who hopefully would give her more exciting missions, rather than meeting murky British arms dealers in the middle of the Mexican countryside. She could already feel the chilly night approaching, as the sun began to set.

**16.10pm, CTU Los Angeles**

"Director Almeida, am I hearing you correctly? You want Jack Bauer to pretend to break Ramon Salazar out of jail?," President Palmer spoke via teleconference with Tony, with Michelle watching beside him.

"Yes, sir. Look, we have information that Nina Myers is attempting to buy the Cordilla virus in Mexico tonight. If our sting operation is successful, we can arrest her and Amador, as well as bring down the Salazar drugs cartel," Tony replied, and Palmer raised an eyebrow at the mention of Nina.

"Nina Myers? I wasn't informed of her escape from North Africa, Director," Palmer asked, and Tony sighed. He decided to twist the truth to make it sound more palatable.

"Well, we only got the intel this afternoon, sir, and we don't know the details of how or when she escaped," Tony informed him, and Palmer nodded. The fact that Nina Myers was involved was certainly going to help convince him to let the jail break go ahead.

"Then I'll agree to it, but tell Jack to be careful. I don't want any innocent deaths," Palmer replied.

**16.15pm, Federal Holding Facility, Downey, California**

A helicopter had brought Jack to the facility, and now he was walking towards Ramon's cell. The guards had been told to play along with the ruse, and had allowed Jack to smuggle his gun past the security gate.

"Unlock the door, please," Jack spoke to the guard who was accompanying him, and as soon as the door was opened, Jack rushed into the cell, taking Ramon by surprise. Grabbing him by the neck and pulling out his gun quickly, he ordered the guard to move.

"Very good, Jack," Ramon spoke as Jack forced him out of the cell, before marching him down the corridor towards the exit, where he would hijack the helicopter and be on his way to Mexico. Jack hoped that Ramon would not see through the ruse, and so far things were going well.

**16.20pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Tony placed the phone down, he relayed the message that Jack had managed to get Ramon onto the helicopter successfully to Michelle, before Chappelle came walking briskly into the room.

"Do you mind telling me why Jack Bauer is taking part in some sort of pretend jail break?," Chappelle asked, staring straight at Tony, his hands on his hips. He had just found out about the plan, and was annoyed that even the President knew what CTU were up to before he did.

"Because we need that to happen if we want to capture Nina Myers," Tony replied, and Chappelle nodded.

"Is this about that rewound day theory that Myers was on about earlier? I'm surprised that you got the President to go along with this based on the fact that one agent thinks he's reliving a day," Chappelle asked.

"We have intelligence that confirms that Nina is in Mexico right now, and that Michael Amador, who is currently in our custody, was to hold an auction for the Cordilla virus," Tony informed him.

**16.25pm, helicopter heading south to Mexico**

The helicopter's pilot had managed to act surprised when Jack had pushed a gun into his neck and told him to set off, and now they were in the air. Jack had been told by Tony that two fighter jets would chase them, but give up minutes before they reached the border.

"Your pilot can make it to Las Nieves, correct?," Ramon asked, and Jack nodded. He was slightly uncomfortable with putting the civilian pilot in danger like he was, but then again the pilot had been more than happy to help when he had been told the reason for the hijacking.

"My brother will be pleased to see me, and pleased that you have decided to do something to alleviate the anger of your betrayal, Jack," Ramon continued.

"This time, it's for real, Ramon. No more betraying," Jack replied. He hoped that this would be the last time that he had to deal with the Salazar brothers. His time spent undercover with them had been six months of hell, and as he was still addicted to the heroin he had used to help his cover, the effects of that mission were still there with him every day, although he was trying to slowly wean himself off of the drug. He had considered going onto a methadone programme in order to get himself drug-free, but had not wanted the addiction to be known by anyone at CTU.

"Listen, seeing as you are now a wanted man in the eyes of your country, why not join us again?," Ramon enquired, and Jack looked at him as if he were seriously considering the offer.

"Let's just see how today goes, and then I'll decide," Jack replied.

**16.30pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Gael Ortega, who had been working as a fake mole to pass on information to the Salazars, was busy on the phone to Hector Salazar. He informed Hector of the jail break and that Jack and Ramon were on their way to him in Mexico.

"I'll be waiting for them, Gael. Keep me up to date with anything that could be useful to me and my brother," Hector told him, before hanging up.

In the bullpen, Tru was being questioned by a now very curious Kim, who was interested in the rewind day theory.

"It just started one day, although I later found out that my mother had the same gift," Tru spoke regarding her ability to relive days.

"Do you think Alex has this gift, or is it just like a one time thing that won't happen again?," Kim enquried. She liked the idea that Alex could protect people with this gift, but wasn't sure if she wanted it to be used to help people like Nina.

"I don't know. The only way we're gonna ever know is if it happens again, and that could be years from now," Tru replied. Although she was relieved that it wasn't her who had the burden of helping someone for once, she knew that every time it happened her life would also rewind, which she considered a good argument for hoping that Alex's ability to relive days would vanish after he had helped Nina.

**16.35pm, auction site, Las Nieves, Mexico**

Another tac team from CTU had arrived in the area, and were busily setting up the tent in which the auction was to take place. The plan was to make it look as Amador intended it to, so they could draw Nina and the Salazars in and capture them. The sky was already dark, and the team were close to finishing the tent. The vehicles that had been used in Amador's convoy had been driven to the auction site and parked close by, Amador's men already sent to a local Mexican jail to await extradition to the United States.

**16.40pm, helicopter, close to Mexican border**

As expected, the two fighter jets had arrived close to the helicopter, and the pilots were communicating with the helicopter pilot to land.

"Don't listen to them! They won't shoot down the helicopter with a civilian on board!," Jack ordered the pilot as Ramon watched the two planes that were threatening to blow them into oblivion.

"Don't be so sure, Jack. With your reputation, your government might want to be rid of you if you decided to go against them like you have today," Ramon replied, and Jack had to remember not to react angrily.

"How far to go until we get to the border, Ronnie?," Jack asked the pilot, who was busy trying to remember that it was all a ruse, and that he wasn't about to shot down.

"Almost there, Jack, we'll be there in seconds!," Ronnie called back.

"It looks like you've caused quite the commotion, Jack!," Ramon commented, and as the two fighter jets pulled away from chasing the helicopter, Jack hoped that Ramon wouldn't become suspicious.

"We've made it into Mexico," the pilot spoke, although there was actually still a few miles before they reached the Mexican border. However, he had flown the helicopter over a rather rural area, so it would have been close to impossible for Ramon to find out he was lying by looking out of the window.

"Do you have a phone, Jack?," Ramon asked, and as Jack pulled out his cell, he wondered what Ramon wanted with it. He was assuming, hoping, that Ramon was simply going to call his brother and that would be it. Passing the phone to Ramon, he waited for him to dial the number.

"Hector? It's Ramon! Our old friend Jack Bauer has freed me from jail! We'll be there soon, my brother," Ramon spoke in Spanish as Jack listened in, relieved that it seemed to be more of a casual call than anything.

"Jack Bauer? You still trust him after he betrayed us, Ramon? Be careful around him, he's dangerous!," Hector replied in Spanish. He was glad that Jack had freed his brother, but wondered if the American agent had an ulterior motive. Deciding that he would wait until Ramon and Jack arrived at Las Nieves, he hoped that Ramon wasn't doing anything stupid by trusting Bauer.

"He broke me out of jail and hijacked an helicopter, Hector. I don't see any agent doing something so drastic just to get back undercover, do you?," Ramon spoke, and although Jack couldn't hear Hector's responses, he could tell that Hector was wary of him, and mentally made a note to be careful around the younger brother, who had never really liked Jack anyway.

"I suppose that is drastic, but I'm still going to keep an eye on him, Ramon, and so should you," Hector replied.

**16.50pm, CTU Los Angeles**

As Kim was heading for the exit, Chase arrived at CTU escorting Amador to the holding rooms. Asking a guard to take Amador, he and Kim walked towards the entrance of CTU.

"I'm glad I caught you before you left, Kim," Chase said as they embraced.

"I promised Dad and Alex that I would go home at the right time and not come back until the threat was over," Kim replied, although she knew that she was tempted to come back later, if only to see how things were going.

"I'll see you tomorrow, OK?," Chase spoke, and Kim nodded. They shared a quick kiss, before going their separate ways.

Alex had stopped Amador before the guard had been able to take him into the holding room, and now he had his hand tightly wrapped around Amador's neck. He could tell just from looking at the arms dealer just how slimy he was, and he was disgusted at the criminal that thought nothing of supplying criminals and terrorists with weapons.

"I just wanted to inform you, Michael, that we know what's going down tonight in Mexico, and we're going to stop it. Now, you can cooperate with us and cut yourself a deal, or you can resist and get the death penalty," Alex spoke to Amador, their faces close to one another. Amador looked at him and just smirked.

"I know who you are, you're Nina's brother. You're concerned about her, I'm sure," Amador replied, his voice mocking, and he got his reward as Alex punched him hard in the stomach. Letting the terrorist drop to the floor, he signalled to the guard to take Amador to the holding room.

_**16:59:57**_

_**16:59:58**_

_**16:59:59**_

_**17:00:00**_


	9. Succeeding In Terrorism

**5.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Chappelle had been informed of Amador's arrival at CTU and was now in the surveillance room, watching as the arms dealer shifted impatiently in his seat. Although he had no belief in the rewind day theory, he was beginning to notice that a lot of what Alex had said made sense as the day went on, but he just couldn't bring himself to accept that three people out of billions were living the day again. Watching as Alex walked into the interrogation room, he wondered if Amador would be willing to comply with CTU.

Sitting down, Alex didn't take his eyes off of Amador for a second. Placing a vial that had been made up to look like the real virus but was in fact just water mixed with green food colouring, he watched as Amador fixed his eyes on the vial, uncomfortable being so close to the virus with no means of getting away from it.

"Tricked you, did it? I wouldn't worry, this is a fake that we're going to be using tonight," Alex told him, and Amador's eyes widened as Alex opened the vial and placed a finger straight into the water, before drying it on his trousers.

"This is what we're going to do, Amador. Tonight, you'll be taken to Mexico, where you'll do the auction as planned. CTU agents will pose as your men, and you'll be surrounded at all times by us. We've already secured the area, so this will happen under our control. If you do as we say, then there's a deal in it for you. You won't walk, but cooperation could get you a sizeable mitigation of your sentence," Alex explained, and he could see Amador considering the offer in his head.

"Fair enough. I guess if it means that Jack Bauer gets to see his old girlfriend again, I'm not that bothered," Amador replied, and Alex had to restrain himself from hitting the smug terrorist.

"Seeing as you're feeling so helpful, Amador, maybe you can tell us where you'll be meeting Marcus Alvers and your buyer tonight?," Alex asked, and Amador looked at him with shock. He had no idea how CTU had managed to find out that information.

"What buyer? The buyer is whoever wins the auction tonight," Amador replied, and Alex wasn't surprised at the reply. As far as Amador knew, no one was reliving the day, and Alex wished that the event that had caused the rewind had happened after they knew who the buyer was.

"Look, you can tell us freely now, or you can be coerced into doing so until you tell us everything later on tonight. We know that we've got until at least the early hours of tomorrow morning to get that information out of you," Alex spoke once more, but Amador had decided not to reply.

"Enjoy your couple of hours of solitude, Amador. The plane leaves at eight," Alex told him, before standing up and walking into the surveillance room.

"We can bring him back here and coerce it out of him in time, Mr Chappelle. The auction is meant to take place close to ten tonight," Alex informed Chappelle, who was looking at Amador, who in turn was looking at the fake vial in disbelief. Turning to Alex, he decided to go along with the theory for now.

"OK, so we set up a sting operation that will capture Nina and the two Salazar brothers, then we get the name of his buyer out of him once he's back here. One thing I don't understand, what happens to Nina in the first place?," Chappelle asked. He only knew that Alex was claiming to be reliving a day in order to save his sister who had died the night before.

"Originally, we captured Nina and brought her back here, but she managed to escape. Jack found her and Kim pointing guns at each other, shot Nina in the shoulder and asked Kim to leave. Once she had, he murdered her," Alex replied, and Chappelle looked thoughtful as he considered the answer.

"And you can prevent her death by bringing her back here anyway?," Chappelle asked, confused. If Jack Bauer was meant to have killed Nina Myers inside CTU, then bringing her into the CTU building in order to protect her didn't sound like too good a plan.

"The information we brought her back for that night was in order to find Amador, but we've already got him. Jack has promised not to kill her in Mexico, so hopefully when we get her here she'll be safe from him. I can understand why he wants her dead, sir, but he doesn't need that burden on him, and I don't want my sister to be killed like that. She should spend the rest of her life in jail and pay for her crimes," Alex told him.

**6.10pm, Salazar Ranch, Las Nieves, Mexico**

As the helicopter was brought down close to the ranch, Jack and Ramon climbed out. Jack instructed the pilot to stay in the helicopter, knowing that as soon as they left the scene, CTU agents would come out of hiding and secure the helicopter.

Walking towards Hector Salazar, Jack could tell that he was conflicted between joy at seeing his brother free once more, and suspicion at seeing Jack Bauer once more, and he was already annoyed that Ramon had apparently fallen for Jack's lies again.

"Welcome home, brother," Hector spoke in Spanish as the two brothers shared a brief embrace, his eyes looking straight at Jack Bauer.

"What about him, Ramon?," Hector spoke, referring to Jack. Ramon turned to look at Jack for a moment, before moving to face his brother.

"He can be trusted, Hector. He may have betrayed us once before, but this time it is for real," Ramon told his brother.

"Can we trust him to help with something I have planned tonight? I have an idea that could bring us a huge profit," Hector spoke, and although he assumed that Jack had no idea what he was talking about, Jack knew exactly what he was talking about.

"What is it, Hector?," Ramon asked, and Hector looked suspiciously at Jack, before deciding that his listening in would not be any harm.

"A man, Michael Amador, is going to sell me a vial of a weapons grade virus. He's looking to sell for a few hundred million, but I have a few potential buyers that will give us a billion dollars for the vial," Hector explained, and Ramon was interested in the idea.

"A great plan, Hector, and what a fool this Amador guy must be!," Ramon replied.

**6.20pm, Kim's apartment, Los Angeles**

As Kim sat down at the table in her kitchen with a cup of coffee, she looked at the clock and wondered how CTU were getting on. Having promised not to return to CTU until the following morning at the earliest, she now had hours to fill in, and being alone only made her think of Nina. Kim knew that whatever had happened on the original night, it was something that directly involved her in some way. She knew that Nina was involved, and that Alex was trying to save his sister from dying, and wondered if Nina's death was caused by her father. Then came the realisation of just why she was asked not to stay at CTU any longer than she needed to be – it wasn't just because Nina was going to be there, it was because Nina would threaten her life. Kim had no idea whether Nina took her hostage or anything, but she knew then that she certainly would not be tempted to go back to CTU. Any explanations of what had happened on the original night would have to wait until the morning.

**6.25pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex and Tru were in the break room, and both were pleased at the progress being made, and they knew that not only would Nina be saved, but so would so many others who didn't even know how close they were to death.

"What if something happens that results in Nina's death?," Tru asked Alex, who was taking a sip from a cup of coffee. Placing the cup down, he shrugged.

"I suppose if there's no other way in the situation, then I'll have to accept it. If Nina had been killed by Jack last night as she pointed the gun at Kim and not afterwards when she was lying on the ground injured and defenceless, I think I would be hesitant to help her to be honest," Alex replied.

"That day you phoned me and told me about Nina, that she had been arrested for murder and treason, I couldn't begin to understand it. It took months for me to come to the terms with the fact that my cousin had done such things. Even years later, when you came to visit me and Harry in Boston, I was still unsure about it, and I suppose now I wish I could have been there when she killed Jack's wife, to have her ask me, or even you, for help," Tru spoke, and Alex nodded. He also wished that this ability was there to save Teri, even if it would have exposed Nina, but now it was too late and here he was using it to save a sister he was sure probably didn't deserve it.

"Look, if this ability stays with me, I can use it to save innocent people, people who do deserve it more than Nina does. I'll know if it does the next time you rewind because I'll relive the day too," Alex said. He wasn't sure if he wanted the ability to stay or not, but if it meant that people like Teri could get a second chance through it, then he was certainly hoping he did keep it.

"Has Jack said anything about his wife today?," Tru asked. When talking to Kim, she had been told a little bit about Teri, and had the impression of her as a loving and devoted mother.

"No, not to me at least. I think he's trying not to think about Teri, in case it makes him want to kill Nina even more," Alex replied, and he was sure that his theory was correct. Jack could easily be provoked when Nina was around or even mentioned if he thought of his wife, and Alex hoped that Teri was out of his mind for now.

In the holding room where Amador was being kept, Tony was talking to him, explaining what was going to happen that night in detail. Amador himself was not happy at the fact that he would not get his $240 million dollars, and what made it was worse was that CTU seemed to know far more than he had hoped. He knew that he was heading for at least a couple of decades behind bars, even if he cooperated, and his only comfort was knowing that Nina Myers was also going to be back behind bars as well.

"How do you know all of this anyway? You have a leak or something?," Amador asked, genuinely curious as to how they had managed to get so more information on his plans.

"Let's just say that money can really help for some individuals," Tony replied, and although it was a rather vague answer, Amador decided to accept the answer. He had wondered if any of his men had been talking to the authorities, and now he had proof that there was someone, and he decided that even though he was going to prison, that wouldn't necessarily mean that the mole was safe. After all, if the mole was to be uncovered, he knew many people who would be more than happy to silence the informant for a sizeable fee.

**6.35pm, Salazar Ranch, Las Nieves, Mexico**

Claudia Hernandez was looking straight at the man who had betrayed them, and she wanted to let him know that she wasn't happy.

"You abandoned us once, why not again? Show me that you've changed, Jack!," Claudia said as she stood alone in the room with Jack.

"Claudia, I'm not here to abandon you, and I promise that tonight I'll take you and your family away from here," Jack replied, and Claudia looked at him with scepticism.

"Of course it is, Jack! You have a plan for getting us out of here, when your government is looking all over the place for you!," Claudia told him, her voice growing ever louder, and Jack was worried that she might alert one of the Salazars to their conversation. Walking closer to her, he whispered to her.

"Look, I know what they are going to do tonight, but it's a sting operation. They'll go to jail, and you can come back to Los Angeles with me, start a new life," Jack spoke to her, and Claudia looked at him for a moment, before a smile grew on her face.

"If that is true, Jack, then I can forgive you," Claudia replied.

**6.40pm, Nina's convoy, Mexico**

As the stream of black SUVs made their way through the darkened rural roads, Nina was continually checking her watch. Journeys this long for her were usually via plane, not by car, and at least on a plane you didn't get startled by every bump in the road. There were still a few hours to go before they reached Las Nieves, and she was not in the best of moods, which didn't help as Nina knew that she had to be at her best during the deal, as she had to be for any mission She remembered one such mission she had done a few months after escaping from North Africa, where she had been so tired that she had almost gotten herself, her men and even her employer who was on the other side of the planet killed because of one moment of madness. Luckily, she had managed to prevent the deaths at the last minute, and no one had known of the potential disaster, but ever since she had been as worried of tiredness killing her as she was of a certain federal agent tracking her down. She had a lot of thoughts about Jack Bauer, and they were often mixed – sometimes she would remember the times they spent together during the affair, others she would remember the pain and humiliation and feel his hand crushing her throat or a gun being shoved into the back of her head. Jack had left an indelible mark on her mind, and she knew that until her final breaths, she and he would be connected. She knew that he would always try and find her, and she had accepted that a long time ago, and just hoped that if he did find her, that she would at least have a chance to defend herself. Not caring if she killed him or not, she just wanted to make sure he couldn't harm her. Groaning slightly as the car went over a particularly large bump, she glared at a suddenly apologetic Cale.

**6.45pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Michelle had approached Alex's work station and was thinking for a moment or two before getting his attention.

"I believe in this rewinding day thing that's been happening, Alex. I think you are reliving the day, and I hope that you succeed, it's just that I don't understand why Nina asked for your help?," Michelle spoke to him.

"Last night, when Nina died, she died because Jack murdered her. The people who ask for help before the day rewinds died unnatural deaths, and it doesn't matter who they were or what they did in life, if they are meant to ask, they will," Alex replied. He knew that no matter how good or evil someone's actions were, the universe didn't like the shock of unnatural deaths, and so a few of them were given the chance to survive, to literally have the clock turned back for them.

"Alex, you said that Tony got shot, and I took over for him whilst he was in the hospital, but today he didn't need to be put into that situation. Last night, did he?," Michelle asked, and Alex knew what she meant.

"No, he was actually back at work quite quickly, within a few hours. As for last night, I think you would make a great director of CTU. Tony was proud of how you handled everything, Michelle," Alex spoke. Michelle had done well in Tony's place, and Alex knew that she was destined to be Director of a CTU branch someday.

"If Nina dies tonight, could she ask again?," Michelle said, and it was a question that had been on her mind for a while. Could someone have an infinite number of chances?

"As far as I and Tru know, she won't. It seems like even though the universe is trying to correct a mistake, it can only try once and then the person lives on or dies. Tru has lost people before, and they've never asked her. Technically, you could give someone a second chance by hoping that someone else asks for help, but you would have to save both. Tru's done that before," Alex told her, and he had already decided that even if there was a way to give Nina another chance to survive the night, he wouldn't take it.

**6.55pm, hotel, Los Angeles**

Marcus Alvers was preparing for the night, and he was looking forward to getting paid for his work. Saunders was going to pay them generously for their part in helping him succeed in his plan, although he had not divulged why he wanted the virus, nor had he said anything about the reasons for his plot to cause multiple innocent deaths. Suddenly, his cell rang, and as he picked it up, he knew that it would be Amador.

"Marcus, it's me. I'm in Mexico at the moment, but I'll be in Los Angeles by 3am tonight. Everything is going to plan, and everything is on schedule," Amador spoke as he talked into the phone that Tony was holding to his ear.

"Mexico? Why are you in Mexico?," Alvers asked, and Amador came up with a quick excuse.

"I'm meeting a contact, nothing to do with tonight. I'll be there on time," Amador replied, and the call was ended.

_**5:59:57**_

_**5:59:58**_

_**5:59:59**_

_**6:00:00**_


	10. Night Falls

**6.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Everything seemed to be going the right way so far, although Alex would every so often check the list of events that had occurred on the original day, just to make sure that they had not missed out an important event or chance to save a life that had originally been extinguished. Noting that they were actually ahead of schedule, a smile grew on Alex's face, and now all he had to do was to make sure that nothing would get in their way. Although at first the rewind had been a second chance for Nina's life, it had now developed into a web of events that would wipe out the mistakes and deaths of the original day, and Alex could only wonder what the events after Nina's death would have been like if she had never asked for his help. He wondered who would have died, what would have happened to the virus, what would have been the consequences of Nina's death or the release of the virus in a crowded place.

Looking up from his list and through the surveillance mirror, he could see Amador sat there alone, staring into space as he waited to be taken to Mexico for the sting operation. Deciding to talk to the arms dealer, he walked into the room and saw Amador's beady eyes flicker towards him. Alex didn't say a word, but instead sat down at the table and placed the piece of paper he had been reading on the table, before pushing it towards Amador, who looked at the paper curiously.

"It's a list of events that could have happened, but didn't. The ones with a red tick next to them, we've managed to avoid and now we can think about the ones without a red tick," Alex explained, and it took a few minutes of reading before Amador looked up.

"How do you know these events were going to happen? What, are you psychic?," Amador asked. Pointing to one event in particular, he read it aloud.

"At around nine in the evening, the auction will take place. Jack and Nina both bid, and Nina wins the auction with a bid of 240 million? Either this is made up, or CTU are working with Nina Myers all of a sudden, and I don't think Jack Bauer of all people would be too happy with that arrangement," Amador spoke, his reply unsurprising to Alex.

"What if I told you that for some people, the clock can be turned back? That there are people right now reliving today and are able to prevent deaths and act on information from the original day?," Alex asked, and Amador's look of total scepticism was all that he needed to show.

"You don't believe me, and I don't care if you do or not, but that is what is happening. Think about it for a minute – if I'm telling you the truth, wouldn't it explain how we know so much? Nina certainly isn't working with CTU, and she has no idea how much we know about tonight."

**6.10pm, Nina's convoy, Mexico**

Nina had spent much of the last half hour gazing out of the window, not paying any particular attention to the scenery. She was contemplating the possibilities of what could happen that night, but she would never have placed Jack in the middle of things. Not that she didn't think of him most days, but as far as she knew, CTU had no idea of the auction nor did she think they would be interested. Her sources told her that Amador was not exactly a top priority for CTU, at which she was curious. Although he was no dangerous international terrorist, he was a fairly ruthless arms dealer, and he had been involved in many deals and events within the United States, so surely they would have had someone keep an eye on him? The information she had received earlier that day regarding someone inside CTU accessing intel on Amador had worried her slightly, but she had reasoned that if CTU knew of her involvement, her low-level moles would have picked up on significant activity on the rather large file of intel that they had on her. The file had at one time just been a typical employee file that each agent had, basically a dossier of information about them, including some information that the agent didn't have access to, such as detailed psychological reports and the like. This meant that CTU knew her much better than they knew any other active terrorist, and Nina considered it to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Taking her cell phone, she dialled a number.

"This is Nina. I need an update regarding CTU, especially anything regarding me or the auctioneer," Nina spoke clearly, not willing to connect herself to Amador. The word "auctioneer" had been adopted as soon as they knew what was going to go down in Las Nieves, and Nina was always careful to keep herself distant. Finishing the call after being told that they would get back to her, she resumed her gazing out of the window.

**6.15pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Chloe was busy at her computer when the message popped up, and after reading it she looked around for Alex. Noticing him walking into the bullpen from the direction of the holding rooms, she walked up to him.

"Alex, I just got a message. Someone in one of the tech rooms is accessing Nina's file," Chloe stated. A program that warned of any activity on the Nina or Amador files had been installed on Chloe's computer a few hours before, and it was doing it's job well.

Walking past each tech room, he slowly opened each door and peered in, making sure that he didn't make his presence known to whoever was in the room. Gael had been in Tech One, but was busy with his fake mole act, and it was unlikely he was Nina's informant. Tech Two was literally empty but Alex decided to make sure that no one was in there with a laptop. Tech Three was the last room to be checked, and Alex was hoping that whoever was in there had a legitimate reason to be accessing Nina's file. Opening the door silently, he peered in and saw a small figure stood next to a computer in the furthest corner, barely visible and Alex certainly would have not seen the person if he had only briefly scanned the room. His gun pointed straight ahead, Alex walked slowly and silently towards the figure, unsure of whether the person was armed. Stopping a short distance away, he was about to alert the person to his presence, when he realised that it would put them at a disadvantage. Nina obviously needed this person to keep feeding her information, and if they removed her source, she would have some idea that CTU was involved. Turning around and walking just as slowly and silently as before, he was about to softly opened the door, when the figure coughed. Freezing, Alex listened carefully, before daring to turn slightly. Relieved to find the person still completely unaware of him, he slipped out of the room and closed the door quietly.

"Well? What are they up to?," Chloe asked as Alex approached her station.

"They're in Tech Three, but I didn't disturb them. I think only Nina would benefit from us stopping her information flow, because she'll realise that we know of her involvement," Alex replied, and Chloe nodded. She was unconvinced that it was indeed the right thing to do, but what she was convinced of was that Alex was reliving the day over again – either that, or he could predict the future – and that maybe it did help them. After all, CTU were now in full control of the auction as well as the real virus, and they were slowly but surely closing in on Nina and whoever the real buyer of the virus was going to be.

**6.25pm, Salazar Ranch, Las Nieves**

Stood inside the house, Jack was looking nervously out of the front window, and it was obviously apparent to Ramon, who walked up to him and stood close by.

"You seem anxious, Jack. Have you not had your fix today?," Ramon spoke quietly, his deep brown eyes studying Jack's face. Jack was all too aware of his heroin addiction, and he was not willing to cloud his mind with drugs, even if it meant having to suffer the effects. Looking at Ramon, he shook his head.

"I'm fine, thanks. Maybe later," Jack replied, fully aware that for Ramon, the only later he would experience was a long stay in an American prison. Checking his watch, he realised that the reunion would take place in a few short hours, and he would see Nina for the first time in years. He knew how he would feel – angry, bitter, possibly fighting the urge to kill her where she stood before the auction, but he knew that would just lead to his own death. He wondered if it was really a good idea for him to have known of Nina's involvement in the auction beforehand – Nina was an expert at reading him, at digging into his mind and accessing his thoughts, and she would not be expecting him to be there. If she could tell that he knew she would be involved, she might back out, more willing to suffer the wrath of her employers than the wrath of Jack Bauer.

Ramon, who by now had returned to where he had been sitting, was reading. Hector had obtained information on this Amador guy. He was not impressed with the arms dealer, and wondered if they could not just take him out and get the virus for free. The fact that no one seemed to have any real information concerned Ramon – surely someone must have dealt with him before? Deciding not to dwell on the matter, he continued to read the thin but informative dossier.

**6.35pm, Kim's apartment, Los Angeles**

Although she wasn't a big fan of television, Kim was nevertheless watching whatever was on, paying no real attention to the show she was watching. The clock that hung on the wall above the television was glanced at every few minutes, and Kim was fighting the urge to go back to CTU. She knew that everything would be under control, and she knew that things were definitely going to plan, but she had experience of days like this, and she also knew that it only took one mistake to send the plan crashing down. Therefore Kim knew that she had to have patience and allow the plan to succeed. Alex would call as soon as they had Nina in custody, and that would leave just the real buyer and the Alvers guy to catch.

The clock and the television were not the only objects that attracted quick glances – the telephone too was being watched, as if doing so would make it ring. Kim knew that it was far too early for CTU to be calling, which meant that when the phone actually did start to ring she was surprised.

"Hello?," Kim spoke, before waiting for the caller to reply, but no sooner had she spoken, the caller hung up. Growing anxiety in her mind told her to be careful, that the call could have been to see if she was home. Deciding whether to call back or to get out of the house was done quickly, and the television was left talking to itself as Kim locked the door behind her. Almost breaking into a run, she headed for her car and began to panic, fearing some unknown assailant jumping out of the nearby bushes. It didn't help that it was already quite dark, and that there were many places where an attacker might choose to lie in wait. Locking the car door behind her, she wasted no time in driving away from the house, heading for nowhere in particular.

**6.40pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex was in the middle of searching for any known terrorist that might be in Los Angeles, hoping to find some clue as to who the real buyer of the virus would be. By finding potential candidates earlier than they would have done on the original day, Alex assumed that it would make their job much easier once they had Nina in custody. The only real clues as to the person's identity were that they had recent connections to Amador and Alvers, that they were either in Los Angeles at that moment or would be within the next few hours, and that whoever wanted to buy the virus wanted mass casualties. The usage of something as deadly as the Cordilla virus suggested that the attack would be no mere terror attack, but rather a calculated and intentional mass murder of countless innocents. The forensics team had analysed the virus and found that the dose was enough to wipe out thousands, which meant that it was likely to be used in multiple locations. Whether those locations were all in Los Angeles or not, Alex had no idea, but he was certainly glad that the Cordilla virus was now out of the hands of malicious terrorists. CTU were still no closer to finding out who Nina was buying the virus for, but that wasn't a priority for anyone at the moment. Alex had always wondered just how Nina could just allow any organisation, no matter how twisted their ideology or how bloody their aims were, to get hold of the virus. Money could make anyone do the most horrific things, and CTU were all too aware of just how financial greed could tear lives and families apart, leaving devastation and chaos.

**6.45pm, Alex's apartment, Los Angeles**

As Kim locked the door behind her, she was more grateful than ever that Alex had given her a spare key to his apartment. He had done so a few years back, when he had decided that it could be an extra place for Kim to find safety if she needed to, and although Kim at first thought it was just Alex being paranoid and overprotective, she was glad that it had been an option for her. The journey had been short, but she had been careful not to be followed by anyone, but knew that she had to take precautions. Walking into Alex's bedroom, she pulled a handgun – Alex always slept with a weapon near his bed, and it was always loaded – out from underneath the bed and tucked it into her pocket. She wanted to make sure she was safe, and a gun certainly helped. Kim didn't like guns, but if they were going to protect her, she could overlook that dislike. Pulling out her cell phone, she looked out of the bedroom window as she waited for an answer.

"Kim? Is everything OK?," Alex spoke, and Kim wondered just how much to say.

"Yeah, every thing's fine. Look, I had to go to your apartment, someone called me but didn't say anything, so I wanted to get out of there. I made sure I wasn't followed," Kim spoke, and she could imagine what Alex's face looked like as she did.

"So you're OK, right? I don't know about your caller, but just make sure you're safe," Alex replied. Kim wondered if someone was in her apartment right at that moment, and decided not to dwell on that thought.

**6.50pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Tru was busy reading a newspaper that someone had left lying around in the break room. Although there wasn't much she could do to help at the moment, her flight back to Boston wasn't until the next day, and she didn't want to leave CTU in case something happened. For a rewind day, this had been rather mundane for her personally, and it was unusual for her to be sitting around waiting for the day to be over. Hearing someone come into the room, she peered over the paper to see Ryan Chappelle. She had been told that he was from Division, and was the boss of the Director of CTU.

"Hello, Ms Davies. I'm Ryan Chappelle. I wanted to talk to you about this rewind day," Chappelle spoke as he sat down at the table. Placing the paper down on the table, Tru seemed glad to have some company.

"Sure, what do you want to know?," Tru asked. She was glad that Chappelle seemed to be becoming more open to the idea of the rewind day, especially as she had experienced it numerous times and, as far as she knew, would do so many more times until her own death.

"Why are you able to relive days? What caused this ability?," Chappelle asked, but Tru shrugged. She knew little about the origins of the rewind day.

"I don't know. My mother relived days when she was alive, and it seems to have been inherited by both myself and Alex. The reason may never be known," Tru spoke. She had been curious herself as to the origins, but she had since decided that it was close to impossible to ever really know why.

Elsewhere in CTU, a helicopter carrying Amador and a few CTU agents was ready to travel to Las Nieves, with instructions for Amador to act as he would have done, to go through with the auction as planned.

"Are we ready?," the pilot shouted, so he could be heard over the loud whirring of the helicopter. A nod of the head from Tony, and the helicopter set off for Mexico, and as it did, Tony felt anxious. The night was only just beginning, and there was a lot still to happen, and even though almost everything was under CTU control, there was still too much that wasn't.

_**18:59:57**_

_**18:59:58**_

_**18:59:59**_

_**19:00:00**_


	11. Fate Shows Her Hand

**7.00pm, CTU Los Angeles**

The conversation in the break room between Tru and Chappelle was still going, and as Chappelle learnt more about the rewind days, and of Tru's experience, he began to believe more and more that it really existed, that there really were people alive at that moment in time who were reliving a day in order to save lives, even if those lives belonged to murderous terrorists. He was curious about what had happened on the first day, and had asked Tru to give him some details. Shaking her head, she replied.

"Sorry, but only Alex knows what happened on the original day. As someone who wasn't asked, but is reliving, I only saw a flash of events in a dream last night," she explained, and Chappelle made a mental note to talk to Alex when he could.

"So, if the event happened at three in the morning, what about the rest of that day, didn't it happen?," Chappelle asked. To be rather pedantic, the day that they were reliving was really most of Thursday with a little splash of Friday, rather than one whole 24 hour day, and if that consisted of a day, where did the rest of that Friday go?

"It never happened, because the events leading up to Nina's death were mostly on Thursday. It's like still being up at three in the morning and going to bed thinking of nine in the morning as tomorrow rather than later today. The timeline is moving along as normal, it's just that we rewinded and recorded something new over the original," Tru replied, and she began to get the impression that even she was learning something about the rewind days. This was certainly a first, in that she wasn't the one who had been asked.

"Has Alex commented on how different it's been today compared to the original day?," Chappelle said, wondering just what CTU had evaded by rewinding. He wondered if the cup of coffee he was holding in his hand, the way his day had been, of the music on the radio station that he listened to as he drove to work. Were all these little details the exact same?

"Yeah, and he thinks that it's a great improvement. A lot less bloodshed and drama is going to be avoided, and has been, and CTU know a lot more much earlier than they did on Original Thursday. You guys didn't even know Nina was involved until around nine or ten in the evening," Tru responded.

**7.10pm, helicopter heading for Mexico**

Two other people with very different reasons for being involved were also thinking about the rewind day, although Amador was sceptical of the idea and believed Alex to be bluffing or even just outright lying. Chase was glad to have avoided the original day, and he was personally benefiting from the rewind, now that he knew to wait a few days before he and Kim would announce their relationship to Jack. Turning his attention to Amador, he looked at the arms dealer, and wondered what would have happened to him. According to Alex, CTU lost track of him and they had tried to get his possible location out of Nina originally, and they had no idea of where he was other than that he was somewhere in the Los Angeles region – not exactly a small place, and not exactly a quiet one either.

"You ever worked with Nina Myers before, Michael?," Chase asked. Neither of the men were in the mood for an interrogation, but Chase didn't intend to interrogate, but to have some of his own questions answered.

"Yes, although worked may not be the right word. Dealt with would be more accurate," Amador replied. There had been a few instances where he and Nina had made business transactions, especially back in the months after her escape from North Africa. In fact, he had helped her immensely by selling weapons to her that some of his men had stolen from some army base in deepest Russia. Then there had been the time where he had sold her some explosives that he later learned were used to kill some federal agent in New Orleans. Not that he was in any way concerned about what his customers did with their purchases, but he still liked to have some closure on the transaction, find out what that gun, that bomb or that knife did to someone or something. It was becoming more difficult to do so as his business grew, but now it was all over.

"What about Jack Bauer? Ever met him before?," Chase asked. He didn't know how well known Jack was amongst the criminals and terrorists of the world, but he imagined that Jack probably would be high up on the list of famous agents for such groups.

"I've heard of him, and I've heard of things he's done. Bit too patriotic for my liking, but I guess that's due to our careers," Amador replied. He had never been a patriot, and had never wanted to be. His only real loyalties were to himself and his family, both equally important to him.

"So, who's your real buyer, Michael?," Chase asked, and the audible scoff from Amador told him that Amador didn't realise that torture methods were likely to be used if they had to get the information out of him later that night, and that revealing the buyer now would help both himself and CTU. Chase, however, wasn't going to encourage Amador into answering the question – it seemed as if CTU could do fine without knowing the buyer until they really needed to. Besides, they already had the virus in their control, and with the auctioneer now a simple puppet, it seemed as if everything was going right.

A few moments of silence passed, before Amador spoke up.

"Did you not find my buyer in the first day?," he asked, and it took Chase a minute or two to realise what Amador was asking.

"We didn't get to the end of the day before it restarted, so I don't know," Chase replied.

"Why not?," Amador asked. It seemed strange that they could apparently remember much of their first day, but not all of it. Did something block their memories of it, or did it never even happen?

"Because the rewinding of time relies on someone who just died. Sounds crazy, but they ask for help and the day suddenly rewinds for the people who can sense it," Chase spoke, and he knew that his words would indeed sound crazy to anyone who hadn't seen proof after proof in the last few hours of the rewind day. Looking pensive, Amador remained quiet for a few minutes, before speaking again.

"Nina or Jack?," he asked, and Chase gave him credit for being somewhat accurate. After all, both Nina and Jack were involved in the auction, and the fact that Alex had been the one to tell Amador of the rewind day would have told him that it was likely to be one of the two.

"Nina, but not because of your bomb. I destroyed that a few hours ago, remember?," Chase responded.

"And Alex was the person she asked, I presume?," Amador enquired. Chase was unsure of where this conversation was going – it didn't seem very clever to give Amador too much information, but what could he do with it? There was no chance of him being able to use it against CTU, and it wasn't as if he could push Jack over the edge with the information in order to kill Nina, and if he did he could forget any deal.

"Yes, he was, after Jack shot her. There'll be no such event tonight, though," Chase replied, and Amador nodded, before turning to gaze out of the window at the darkened borderlands just south of San Diego. It seemed that his curiosity had been sated, at least for now.

**7.25pm, Nina's convoy, Mexico**

The convoy were now no more than two hours away from Las Nieves, and Nina could feel the tension begin to rise in her mind and body. She had been anxious all day, and it didn't help that Amador was seemingly out of reach. Even her CTU informants didn't have much more to give her, and she was seriously contemplating ending her contract with her employer, even if it meant having no stability or security for a while. She didn't have a lot of money, and relied on a steady income, but a normal job was never going to suit her. Working at CTU had been exciting at times, but it was never enough, and she wondered if it had been this fact that had finally pushed her into terrorism. After all, it wasn't as if she was that far removed from the world of terrorism when she had been working at CTU, although in the early days of her career as a terrorist she had wondered if it was the right decision to make, and at one point was just minutes away from confessing all to Jack, and hoping that he could help her get out of this mess. Now, of course, the only way he would help her would be to guide her to an eternal rest six feet underground.

"Cale? Did the money go into the account ready for tonight?," Nina asked, more out of a need to get away from her thoughts than a need to know.

"Yeah, it's in there. 240 million, should be more than enough for this virus. Hey, any ideas what the boss wants it for?," Cale responded, his eyes firmly on the dark road ahead.

"Good, good. As for his intentions, I guess he'll probably have some target in mind. He doesn't exactly brief me on his plans," Nina replied. It wasn't strictly true, as she did have access to his office at the compound, located in deepest Brazil, from where her boss ran his global terrorist business. As it was a virus, she guessed that he had a large target in site, with the aim of killing as many people as possible. Chances were it was either an army base, a government building or even just a civilian apartment block. Nina could never decipher the reasons for why he chose his targets sometimes, and his irrational nature did not sit well with her. The truth was, he was simply the person willing to pay her the most for her services, and thus became her boss. The prospect of potentially working for the most fanatical groups did not faze her – in fact, she had always wanted to work with fundamentalists or hardliners – a group she could study, could analyse as she worked for them. It would be an interesting prospect, but for now she was content with her far more mundane boss. After all, she planned to be in the terrorist business until she was dead, and planned not to die for a very long time.

**7.35pm, CTU Los Angeles**

Alex had given up trying to find the buyer in the huge pile of terrorists who were either known to be in Los Angeles, or had links to the city. It seemed that the buyer was either elusive, or wasn't a terrorist at all – Alex had no idea which of the possibilities he liked most. If the former was true, then they knew next to nothing about the buyer and that would put them at a severe disadvantage. If the latter, then CTU had a lot of work on their hands to figure out who would buy the virus and why if they didn't want it for terrorism. From the events of Original Thursday, Alex knew that Nina didn't know who the real buyer was, that was obvious from the fact that Amador was using the auction as a scam before taking the virus to the real buyer. Plus she had pleaded for her life by saying that she could find Amador, not the buyer, and if she knew who the real buyer was – or even had a slight idea of their identity – she would have used that information to her advantage.

Having decided that they weren't intended to know the buyer already – it was probably unfair to Fate for CTU to have all the cards – Alex told himself that the buyer was most likely not connected to Nina, and probably not connected to Amador. The buyer was probably in Los Angeles, or nearby, and the buyer either wanted to create a death toll in the hundreds or thousands, or wanted to destroy the virus and prevent it being used. The fact that Amador had tried to scam Nina and the Salazars in Mexico before selling the virus to the real buyer told Alex that the buyer probably wasn't keeping a close eye on Amador, nor did the buyer seem concerned about the fact that Amador was a scheming weasel. This told Alex that whoever the buyer was, they probably weren't exactly veterans of terrorism.

Alex had seen how the media had, since the 9/11 attacks, often portrayed terrorists as exclusively Muslim, as if Islam was the only ideology that had terrorism as a weapon. The truth was that most of the terrorists that he had seen dealt with at CTU, even after 9/11, were not Muslims at all. Sure, there were some, but their numbers were no greater than the Christian fundamentalists, the Neo-Nazis, the far left and right, the lone wolves or even the obscure groups whose goals were somewhat esoteric. As for the terrorists he was searching through, they too were a diverse group and Alex knew that terrorists of any ideology would not be against using viruses to cause terror, death and mayhem.

One face caught his attention, that of a young woman. She had long black hair, blue eyes and couldn't have been more than 25. There was only one known alias, "Mandy", and she was believed to be the person who infected President Palmer a few years before. Thinking, he doubted that this Mandy was planning anything too big, and the Cordilla virus was probably not something a less experienced terrorist would dare use. Then again, she might be buying the virus for someone else, like Nina. Deciding to consider her one of the main potential buyers, he moved on to the next person in the list, but his concentration was interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Alex, it's Tony. I need you to come to my office for a moment?," Tony asked.

"Sure," Alex replied. As he walked towards the office, he continued thinking of the mysterious buyer. He had made up his mind that there could only be two reasons why someone would want to buy the virus – either to use it to attack multiple people, or to destroy it once and for all, but he knew that they wouldn't know for sure for hours, and he had to put thoughts like that to one side. Knocking once on the office door before entering, he saw Tony sat at his desk.

"Sit down, Alex. I need to talk to you about something," Tony started, and he waited until Alex had indeed sat down on a chair near the desk before continuing.

"Chloe tells me that you saw someone she believes is an informant working for Nina in one of the tech rooms earlier but declined to do anything about it. Is that correct?," Tony asked, and Alex could tell that he had made a mistake in not stopping the infiltrator. Nodding, he waited to hear what Tony had to say next.

"She also told me why you left the informant alone, and at first I was in agreement. That was, until I found out what the informant last accessed before they left the building," Tony continued, and he passed a file over the desk to Alex. Opening the file, he saw a list of addresses. Agent's addresses. Alex looked at the list for a moment, before looking back at Tony.

"They knew Kim was at home, but she managed to get to my apartment," Alex spoke, before standing up.

"Where are you going? They'll not go to every house on the list," Tony asked, but Alex was already leaving the room.

"No, but they'll start with the addresses of her friends, Tony. They could already have got to her!," Alex explained quickly, before rushing out of the office and running towards the parking lot. Annoyed at overlooking the little details, he realised that it hadn't been an informant for Nina in the tech room, it had been a friend of Jack Harper. Alex concluded that Harper must have used his phone call at the precinct to get someone inside CTU and get information on Kim, and Alex realised that Fate had more than just Jack Harper on its side.

_**19:59:57**_

_**19:59:58**_

_**19:59:59**_

_**20:00:00**_


	12. Questions and Contemplations

**8.00pm, Alex's apartment, Los Angeles**

Kim had fallen asleep on the couch, finally feeling safe enough to let her guard down for a few hours. She had been careful not to be followed to Alex's apartment, but she didn't know of the address list, and it wouldn't take long for the informant to work out where exactly Kim had gone. In fact, he was already stood outside the apartment block, staring up at the windows of the apartment itself. Turning around as his accomplices walked up to him, he cleared his throat.

"You know the plan, right?," he spoke in a raspy voice, and waited for the pair to reply. It seemed to be a rather basic idea – go inside, get the woman, inform CTU of what they had done and what they wanted, and when they had confirmation of Nina's death, release the woman. It was not the usual way that the forces of Fate would counter any attempt to save the dead, but this was no usual rewind day. Running a hand through his sparse brown hair, he checked his watch before deciding that it was time to put the plan into action.

Inside the apartment, the only noise had been Kim's soft snoring, and the inquisitive purrs of Alex's cat, a female with jet black fur and deep green eyes. She had made the long trip from Chicago via plane – a long road trip was no place for a cat – and enjoyed the warmer climate of Southern California. The latest noise to be introduced was the phone, before Kim woke suddenly. Rubbing one eye, she reached for the phone and answered.

"Kim? I don't want you to panic, but you might be in danger. I need you to hide and stay safe until I can get there, OK?," Alex informed her. Telling him she would, Kim looked around the apartment, before deciding to run out of it. Slamming the door behind her, she ran towards the stair well.

Outside, Alex parked up quickly near the entrance to the apartment block and pulled out his gun. There was a chance that whoever was after Kim would already be there, and he was determined not to give them a chance to either harm her or escape. As he ran into the building and started to move up the stair well, he realised exactly what these people wanted with Kim, and told himself that no one was going to use Kim to hurt Nina or cause any other deaths. A scream from nearby caught his attention and, as he raced around the corner, he saw Kim struggling to free herself from the trio. Shooting one of the men in the arm, he kept the gun pointed at the group.

"Get away from her, or the next shots going to be fatal!," Alex warned them. As they complied, he walked slowly over to Kim. The man who had been shot groaned as he sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. Waiting for the other two to move towards their injured friend, he kept his eyes and gun trained on them.

"Who sent you?," Alex asked, his voice calmer and quieter now that the situation seemed to be under his control. He looked at each of the three men individually, taking note of their appearance and facial features. As the three remained silent, he pulled out his cell phone and passed it to Kim. At first he had suspected friends of Jack Harper, but he had no idea if Fate's sole friend was alone or really was working with the trio. Such answers would have to wait a while until the three men could be questioned elsewhere.

"Call CTU, tell them we've got three men here who could be very helpful to us," Alex asked.

**8.10pm, CTU base, north of Las Nieves**

As Chase led Amador away from the helicopter and into the vast tent that served as a temporary CTU building, he checked the time. It was getting close to the auction time, and although CTU were almost entirely in control, he knew that they couldn't relax until Nina and the Salazars were in the area and secure.

"Has Jack been in contact?," he asked an agent who was sat at a computer.

"No, not yet," the agent replied. Nodding, Chase moved deeper into the tent with Amador, before instructing him to sit down on a chair.

"When the time comes for the auction to take place, three of our agents will accompany you to the auction site, pretending to be your men. Just go through the auction process as you would have done, is that clear?," he spoke, and Amador nodded slightly. He was somewhat impressed by the quickness of CTU, and he began to wonder if the rewind day was actually real.

**8.15pm, Nina's convoy, south of Las Nieves**

Their destination was now an hour's drive away, and Nina was mentally running through the details of the plan, as well as her instructions for afterwards. Knowing little about the other participants in the auction was a concern, but 240 million seemed more than enough for the virus. After she had won the auction, they would move quickly out of the area and drive to a nearby runway, where her employer would have a plane waiting to take them to Mexico City. There she would hand over the virus, before lying low for a while and watching out for what exactly he was going to do with the virus. The little empathy she had left was concerned about the possible use of the virus on civilians, but she knew that her employer had little reason to attack indiscriminately, and that the virus would most likely be used on some army base. She remembered that the last biological weapon he had attained was used by Columbian paramilitaries, and had caused the deaths of at least fifty soldiers. Politics was not something Nina was interested in, so a few months afterwards, it was nothing strange to her when she made a deal to buy some explosives for her employer that a couple of weeks later were used to attack the very same Columbian paramilitaries.

**8.20pm, Salazar Ranch, Las Nieves**

Jack was sat down, wondering where Nina was and what she would be doing. Knowing so much about her was both a blessing and a curse to him, and he knew he had to stay calm whilst she took prominence in his thoughts. The last thing he wanted was for thoughts of Nina Myers to ruin his cover, and so he kept an outer appearance of calm whilst inside it was total chaos. Thoughts were running around his mind, of Teri, of what Nina had done, what Nina was capable of, what he should and should not be doing that night, what the consequences of simply walking up to Nina at the auction and shooting her in the head would be. Sighing quietly, he hoped that Chase would be able to save Claudia and her family – Alex had told him that her father and brother had managed to escape, but Claudia had been shot during that very escape. He knew it wouldn't happen this time – whilst the two Salazar brothers were at the auction, CTU would swoop on the ranch and both rescue Claudia and her family, as well as arrest any of Salazar's men. That would make it much easier for Jack and another team of CTU agents to arrest the people inside the auction tent.

"What are you thinking about, Jack?," Claudia asked. She had come into the room and, although he looked peaceful, his eyes showed signs of something troubling him. Looking up at her, Jack smiled and came up with something quickly. There was no point in telling her of the rescue attempt just yet.

"Just some old memories," Jack replied. He wondered what Nina had done since her escape from North Africa. He was sure that she would have gotten straight back into the terrorist business, as if the caring, warm Nina that he at one time loved was now gone, replaced by the cold, ruthless monster that had murdered, betrayed, lied and back stabbed.

**8.25pm, CTU Los Angeles**

The trio had been placed into separate holding rooms, and Alex was in one of those rooms, trying to get information. The man was short, with short blond hair, grey eyes, a scar on his neck that reminded Alex too much of the scar that Nina had after she had pushed the needle into her carotid, and what appeared to be a perpetual sneer on his face.

"Who sent you to find Kim Bauer, ?" Alex asked. He had no idea which of the three was the boss, but he seemed as if any of the three would suffice.

"Why do you want to know?," the man replied, his voice a deep Midwestern accent, and Alex could tell that the man was going to waste his time.

"OK, let's start again, with a more simple question. What is your name?," Alex spoke once again. Thankfully the man seemed happy to give this information out, probably having no idea just how much CTU could get from such intel.

"Name's Wayne Berkeley," the man replied, and alls Alex had to do was look behind him at the mirror and nod. He knew that behind that mirror, Michelle was already looking up the name, and if there was anything in the numerous databases that CTU had access to, they would know within minutes. Turning back to Wayne, who seemed to have no idea of what he had given away, he returned to questioning Berkeley.

"Ready to answer my other question? Who sent you to find Kim Bauer?," Alex asked, and this time Wayne seemed able to come up with an answer.

"He never gave his full name, just called himself Richard. A Middle-aged guy, brown hair, brown eyes. Sounded like he was from New England," Wayne responded, and Alex was confused. He had no idea who this Richard could be, and he was sure that whoever this guy was, he wasn't involved in any part of Original Thursday.

"This Richard give you any idea why he wanted you to kidnap a federal agent by any chance?," Alex enquired, and Wayne shrugged. It was becoming clear to Alex that the trio were probably just three people who were willing to do anything for money.

"No, he just said to grab the woman, take her to an address and he would give us the cash," Wayne replied, before pulling out a piece of paper and passing it to Alex. Noticing that the address was only a few minutes away from CTU, he left the room quickly, ready to find this Richard and find out what connection he had to the day's events.

**8.35pm, hotel, Los Angeles**

Alvers was busy making sure that everything was ready for the meeting with Saunders that was going to take place early the next morning. All he and Amador had to do was to take the virus to the agreed meeting place, get it ready for distribution, and Saunders' couriers would do the rest, although Alvers had insisted that he place one of the devices somewhere in Los Angeles. Saunders had been more than happy to grant this request. By the time it was light, he and Amador would be a few hundred million dollars richer, and Saunders would have his virus ready to do whatever he wanted to do with it. He had not told the pair much about his reasons for acquiring the virus, and neither had bothered to ask.

Looking out of the window, he checked to see if anyone was monitoring the area. Amador's rather strange and unannounced visit to Mexico had made him paranoid, and although he knew that Amador wasn't going to back out of earning a lot of money, he wondered if there was a hidden reason for Amador's trip across the border. Amador had been brief, and although he had said specifically that it had nothing to do with the night's plan, he couldn't help but be concerned that perhaps it was.

**8.40pm, apartment block, Los Angeles**

Alex was stood outside of the building, looking up at the windows that corresponded to the address written on the paper. There were no lights on, and Alex wondered if it was a trap of some sort. A quiet noise told him that Michelle had sent a message to his phone, and as he pulled out his phone and read it, he grew even more suspicious. The apartment was supposed to be empty, but when a slight flicker of light appeared in the window, as if someone was using a torch inside, Alex knew that it wasn't. Heading inside, he climbed the stairs two at a time, careful not to go rushing around the corners as he did. Approaching the door slowly, he listened out for anyone inside the apartment, and contemplated his entry. This contemplation was soon ended as he realised the door was unlocked, and with his gun at the ready, he slowly opened the door. Noticing the torch-bearing figure near the window, he pointed his gun.

"I'm a federal agent! Put your hands up and turn around!," Alex announced loudly and firmly, before fumbling around for a nearby light switch. He almost regretted it when the lights went on and, standing in front of him, was Richard Davies.

"Uncle Richard?," Alex asked, as he and Tru's father stared at each other. Moving into the room, Alex closed the door behind him. Pointing at a chair, he waited for Richard to sit down before lowering his gun.

"How are you involved in this, Richard?," Alex asked, shocked at the sight and, inside, hoping that this was all a mistake and that it wasn't a case of yet another member of his family turning out to be a criminal or a terrorist. Although only Nina fit into such a category, she was his closest relative, and the betrayal had hurt.

"I'm working with Jack Harper, Alex. I help Fate," Richard replied, and Alex sighed. Tru was at CTU, and she would have to see her father brought into CTU under arrest. Not to mention the questions Alex had about Tru's mother, who when alive had the ability to relive a day as well. It must have been awkward for the pair.

"So you thought if you held Kim hostage, it would somehow lead to Nina dying and Fate being satisfied?," Alex enquired. Nodding, Richard looked somewhat uninterested in the conversation, and Alex knew it would be useless to continue the conversation outside of CTU. Placing handcuffs on Richard's wrists, he told his uncle to get up and walk out of the apartment.

"Should I tell Tru now, or should we wait until she sees you escorted through CTU?," Alex asked, and the lack of any response from Richard annoyed him. Deciding to call Tru before they reached CTU, the pair began walking down the stairs. One of the thoughts on Alex's mind was from Original Thursday, when Nina had been escorted into CTU in front of Kim. Thankfully, that wasn't going to happen tonight, and Alex was sure that he wasn't going to put Tru though it with her father either.

**8.50pm, Nina's convoy, Las Nieves**

As the cars snaked their way through the quiet streets of the small Mexican town, Nina prepared herself for the task ahead. Within the next hour, she would have the virus in her hands, and all of this would be over. She found these deals rather tedious, but knew that with each one she grew closer and closer to moving up in the terrorist world, like a morbid promotion for good work. Checking that her gun was loaded and ready if she needed it, she sat up in her seat and anticipated their arrival at the auction place. Amador had assured her that he had the area firmly secured, and that no federal agents – American or Mexican – would be anywhere near.

**8.55pm, Salazar convoy, Las Nieves**

Jack tried not to look too nervous as the cars travelled towards the auction site. In a few moments, he would be face to face with Nina Myers for the first time in some years, and only one of them was not expecting the meeting. Breathing in deeply, he watched as the big white tent that Amador was going to use for the auction came into view, and told himself to stay calm, that CTU had almost everything and everyone under control. He couldn't but feel sceptical.

**8:59:57**

_**8:59:58**_

_**8:59:59**_

_**9:00:00**_


End file.
